The Tribune

By ANNELIA NIXON

Tribune Business Reporter

anixon@tribunemedia.net

AN EXTRA 1MW of rental generation has been installed on Harbour Island after repeated complaints of power outages throughout Eleuthera.

Bahamas Power and Light installed the extra power unit on Christmas Day, although the installation led to a power shutdown on Harbour Island on Boxing Day. 

BPL promised an added 2.5MW of “BPL-owned generation” following an “unexpected failure of” a generator set and constant electricity complaints throughout Eleuthera.

In a statement, BPL said: “On Christmas Day, December 25, 2024, we successfully installed an extra 1MW of rental generation to meet the increasing load demands as Harbour Island enters its peak season.”

BPL said to integrate the new unit into the system, a complete shutdown would take place on Boxing Day morning from 6am to 8am, “to minimise the disruption for our residential and business customers”.

Caterer and owner of the Harbour Island Spa Karen Catalyn said she did not experience outages on Christmas Day. However, she gave BPL credit for cutting the electricity at intervals on Boxing Day for the unit integration.

“This morning it’s been off five times already,” she said. “You could see the attempts that they are making. It went off for five minutes, maybe ten at the most, but it was always right back on. It didn’t go off until 7.30. So we had probably an outage between 7.30 and say about 8.20. And it wasn’t off for that long. I’m shocked because I have water on demand so I need my electricity to bathe. But they do very good today. They didn’t even want you to have two hours off. You can see them trying to keep it on.”

BPL said the rental generation “is a temporary solution aimed at stabilising the power supply on the island”.

“This unit was transported from New Providence to Harbour Island and installed in just 48 hours. In parallel, the BPL team is committed to bringing an additional 2.5 MW of BPL-owned generation online within the next week, along with repairing and restoring the previously lost unit.”

While Harbour Island received added generation, other parts of Eleuthera experienced outages at Christmas, with many leaving complaints in the BPL Eleuthera Hotline WhatsApp group since Christmas Eve.

“The outage started at about 6.50pm on Christmas Eve,” local government representative for Current Aldred Albury told Tribune Business. “BPL was notified and after multiple calls they said at 11.36pm that linesmen was on their way, however no one showed up. At about 12.30am Christmas Day, I received information that the linesmen was not reachable to persons at the power plant and the plant stopped answering the phone in Hatchet Bay. At about 11am Christmas Day, the power was restored.

“It seems as though in [the] North it was only one line off in Current. Seemed as though this may have impacted BPL response as we currently also have 32 street lights inoperable in the Current community as well. One of these lights has not worked for the last ten years.”

One group member brought to attention the promise made to Eleutherans by the government that the island would see stable electricity by September. They called for BPL to inform the public of a new timeline.

“Should people with electric stoves like me stay up all night and cook to at least have a decent Christmas meal?” they continued. “I was in my corner but for the life of God, how is it that after months and months and Eleutherans having been quiet on all accounts, absolutely no relief has been a reality?”

In response, BPL spokesperson, Arnette Ingrahm assured the group that “sweeping reforms and upgrades” are being put in place to relieve Eleutherans but their “focus” in that moment was to get the electricity up and running so they could “enjoy” their Christmas.

“We get your frustration particularly tonight, Christmas Eve,” Ms Ingraham wrote. “I will not make promises except to say that everyone in BPL is aware of Eleuthera’s challenges, which are systemic. Eleuthera is a priority and I can share that sweeping reforms and upgrades are being planned for the island as we speak. More on this will be shared soon... Tonight, our primary focus is to get the power back on so that you can enjoy your Christmas.”

Ms Catalyn said she sees BPL “for what it actually is”. She added that the BPL employees are not to blame but the powers that be are. She also noted that knowledge would certainly help Eleutherans show “more understanding” regarding outages.

“The antiquated, archaic, ancient way is not the workers’ fault,” she said. “It’s the government who has not made it their business to take pride in electricity seriously and make changes. They patch up. I’ve been down there looking. Those guys are trying so hard working on the clock. One generator breaks down, two broke down. And I see them working so feverishly trying but man, it’s not their fault. I got to see it for what it actually is this go around. The government has failed us with water and electricity over the 50 years and now we’re paying for it.

“We don’t know the mechanics, well, the infrastructure of BPL to supply electricity for Eleuthera. We don’t know. We know about power plant here, power plant there, main generator there, backups there. That’s about it. We know that the water needs electricity, but where and how, we don’t really know. If someone came and explained it to us, maybe we could understand so that when it goes off we could be more understanding. But knowledge is understanding and we need to understand why it goes out often. What is the backup plans, why it works sometimes, you know, stuff like that. General information rather than just being told, oh, this plant went down, this generator ran out of diesel, run hot, wouldn’t start, that type of thing.”