The Tribune

By Malcolm Strachan

THE Olympics comes once every four years – but sadly for us, power outages courtesy of BPL come more often than that.

I was all set to relax and watch coverage of Paris 2024 this weekend with my family. There we were, talking excitedly about sports which quite frankly never cross our radar at any other time. Who knew there was such joy in discussing water polo? But that joy was snuffed out thanks to BPL and whatever the reason of the week is this time. Not that they even bothered to have a reason on their social media – just something about planned outages nowhere nearby. So this was unplanned, and they don’t seem to even bother telling us any more. 

I say this out of frustration – but also because we have just had a week in which the workers of BPL have been expressing their own frustrations with government, and a lack of information. 

Which is all to say that it is really difficult to be enthusiastic to support the status quo – but the workers are right. 

Let’s be clear – Bahamas Power and Light is not fit for service, but that’s nothing new. 

Year after year, summer after summer, we get told that everything will be fine this time around, then off goes the power. Call it what you will. Load shedding, unplanned outages, it doesn’t really much matter what you call the darkness. 

Reform is needed. It has been needed. But we have had various reforms that have been said to take place. BPL itself is a reform from when it was BEC. There have been rental generators, management contracts, changes of boards, new engines, the list goes on. And yet, there I was again, sitting in summer darkness and heat with no power. You too plenty of times recently, I’m sure. 

So we’ve been told all this before. This reform will really, truly, honestly work this time. And then it doesn’t. And we have plenty of time to dwell on the latest foolishness as we sit there in the dark waiting. 

So this time, why should it be different? 

As much as we might grumble and cuss when our power goes out, the people who know BPL best are the staff who work for it. 

They know what equipment works, what doesn’t, what might if you tinker with it just right. They know the areas that cause problems with transmission problems. They know the political interference that has gone on over the years with one side or another. 

It is disturbing then to see that the latest solution seems to have been arrived at without significant consultation with those staff members. 

Indeed, one union leader last week said that staff are “p••••• off and ready for action”. 

The site of Energy Minister touring equipment from Pike Electrical, which is involved in the government plan to manage the electric grid, must have been a red rag to a bull. 

Sure, JoBeth Coleby-Davis has time to go talk to them – but not to the BPL workers, many of whom are worried about what the future holds for them. 

That’s understandable. They have bills to pay. Mortgages to keep up. Kids to send to school. Pensions. Healthcare. They want to know where they fit in with the grand plan. 

The Bahamas Electrical Workers Union’s president, Kyle Wilson, said: “There appears to be an intentional effort to keep the Bahamas Electricity Workers union and Bahamian people in the dark as this BPL deal progresses.”

In the dark might not have been the best phrase to use there, because we know how you feel, Kyle. 

He added: “No one in authority is directly addressing the labour issues concerning this deal that will have a major impact on BPL and its operations. A deal that will split the operations of the company, and place transmission and distribution assets along with unabated management rights into a third-party hand. This deal appears top secret and classified, and little to no information of the details is known to the union.”

He says a letter to the minister has received no response. 

In truth, we the public could also do with more answers. There seems to be some uncertainty, for example, in determining how the value of the assets being handed over to the newly formed grid company was arrived at. 

Bahamas Grid Company, led by Eric Pike, whose trucks were the ones being inspected by the minister, has been raising money, and the bond document suggests that there will be US workers brought in to lead the upgrades until Bahamian staff can be trained up. 

The bond also said that the company plans to hire new Bahamian staff while “upskilling” existing staff as the core workforce. 

Given all that is available as information to the investors, it’s hard to see why the government could not be as forthcoming with the staff – and lay out the planned programme to the extent that it is involved, while inviting the grid company to detail the same to workers. 

Keeping workers out of the loop seems a deliberate choice. And given the success of any such project will hinge on the cooperation of the workforce to overcome the difficulties that have troubled our power grid for years, why would you not let them know what is coming? 

So while I may spit and curse the name of BPL every time the power goes out, which is far too often, I still find myself sympathising with the situation of the workers. 

We all want the best outcome, after all. We want a steady, reliable – and not wildly expensive, please – power supply. 

That doesn’t seem too much to ask. And it’s the basis of all kinds of things, including attracting investors and business to our islands. 

Take a look at the stories coming out of Eleuthera which has been troubled by water supply problems, leading to some people straight up moving out of the island until things are better. 

An unreliable power supply can bring the same frustrations – and how do you turn to, say, a hotel investor interested in coming to The Bahamas and say oh by the way you can’t count on electricity supply?

Will this latest reform be the one, finally, to do the trick? Or in a couple of years’ time, will we still be suffering outages but this time we’ve handed over assets we own to a private company that is making coin while we sweat?

We can only hope. But none of us, customers or workers, deserve to be left in the dark.