The Tribune

BY FAY SIMMONS

TRIBUNE Business Reporter

jsimmons@tribunemedia.net

PRIME Minister Philip Davis KC yesterday said he has asked Bahamas Power & Light (BPL) to examine whether it can provide further financial relief to customers following Wednesday night’s island-wide disruption to homes and businesses across New Providence.

Speaking to reporters while visiting the BPL Blue Hills power plant yesterday, Mr Davis said he has discussed whether consumers affected by repeated outages and high electricity bills could receive concessions from the utility.  "I've asked BPL to look at that, and they'll see what they can do," he said.

Mr Davis acknowledged his frustration with the continued disruptions, but maintained that the latest outages should not be viewed as a failure of the Government's energy reform programme. "Well, it just tells us how complicated the whole issue is," he said. 

"For example, the institutional knowledge of the grid in BPL is no longer there... There's no asset inventory. We're now trying to develop that." Mr Davis said the outages were not the result of inadequate maintenance or a lack of investment, but rather circumstances beyond the Government's control.

"I am frustrated because the acts that cause these outages are not because of a lack of maintenance, not because of the transformative work that is happening, but rather because of factors beyond our control," he said.

"For example, the heat that we are experiencing. If you do your investigative reporting and understand what's happening around the world, you'll see that The Bahamas is not unique in what is happening with power delivery. We are dealing with our own problems. We are facing those problems, and we are delivering aggressively."

Responding to concerns from Bahamians who have questioned why outages persist despite significant investment in the electricity sector, Mr Davis said the recent failures were driven by extreme weather conditions rather than shortcomings in BPL's transformation programme.

"What caused the blackout wasn't because of a lack of effort on the part of BPL, and the carrying out of the initiatives that started under our transformative initiatives. It was because of acts beyond our control," he said.

"You have a transformer that's blown up because of overheating of underground cables... May, for example, was the hottest in history. June, same thing. Heat overbears our transmission and distribution system."

Meanwhile, Jo-Beth Coleby-Davis, minister of energy, utilities and aviation, said she was advised by BPL executive chairman, Christina Alston, that a fault on the high-voltage system at the Blue Hills primary substation at around 2.30 am yesterday resulted in the loss of one of the station's primary transformers.

According to Mrs Coleby-Davis, the failure caused a flashover, making it necessary to immediately isolate critical equipment to protect personnel and the wider electricity system. After the system was stabilised and all required safety procedures were completed, BPL's system controllers began a "black start" restoration.

Mrs Coleby-Davis said a ‘black start’ is among the most technically demanding operations an electric utility can undertake, requiring generation units to be brought online in a carefully-controlled sequence, substations to be progressively energised and electrical load restored in stages to maintain system stability and prevent further failures.

She said BPL deployed operational, engineering and field teams throughout the network to support the restoration effort, monitor system conditions and respond immediately to any abnormalities encountered during the energisation process.

While acknowledging the frustration experienced by households and businesses, Mrs Coleby-Davis thanked BPL employees for working under extremely demanding conditions while mourning the recent loss of a colleague.

"The Ministry of Energy, Utilities and Aviation will continue to monitor the restoration efforts and remain in close communication with BPL officials," said Mrs Coleby-Davis, encouraging the public to follow BPL's Facebook page and WhatsApp channel for updates.