Persistent Power Cuts Plaguing Business and Residents

Advertisement

NASSAU, BAHAMAS – Just after 10AM, Bahamas Power and Light issued a disruption notice, saying generation issues at Clifton Pier, resulted in the loss of power in areas including Wulff Road, Bacardi, Cable Beach, Fox Hill, and Blair Estates.

While the power was restored in most communities within an hour, it’s a reality that’s become far too familiar for residents.

Meanwhile, the owner of NRG Bahamas, Dawn Sands, is one of them.

She says her business’ three locations in Cable Beach, Palmdale, and Old Fort Bay are being severely impacted, with constant blackouts that are racking up inventory losses and straining the payroll.

Dawn Sands – Owner, NRG Bahamas

“So on top of using inventory, every day, we have to check the inventory being lost to make sure that nobody, nothing’s contaminated, no one’s sick, so we’ve lost inventory.”

“And I’m lost of revenue. So, revenue is the biggest part, and again, I can’t tell my staff, I paying you until half day. This electricity is not their fault, so I’m losing revenue, losing profits.”

Sands also says the constant blackouts leave her feeling like there’s no recourse for BPL customers.

Dawn Sands – Owner, NRG Bahamas

“Both locations, we have no generators here. So we have been significantly impacted. Over the last few months, it’s not just something that just started, but then particularly, I will speak on this week alone. We’ve had two days where we had to shut down the business from 11PM to 11AM. My business is only open from 7:30AM to 4PM…”

However, she’s not the only one feeling the impact.

Others have turned to generators, but even that comes with a cost.

Business owner Carlton Duvalier explains how he’s had to adapt.

Carlton Duvalier – Business Owner

“Incidents where the generator may have been running for so long it may have cut off. At one point we had lost appliances that would’ve been damaged, but we’ve made adjustments by placing our necessary important equipment on auxiliary power units.”

Also, residents like Asia Darville say the frustration goes beyond a business’ bottom line.

Asia Darville – Resident

“Purchase the stuff that you need, for us to have sufficient current on the island, on this island especially.”

Meanwhile, another resident says the continued outages are taking a toll on his everyday life.

Resident –

“A little frustrated at the moment, you know cause it affects everyone, I just hoping we could get through this as a country. I know people working for BPL working hard trying to resolve this issue, and our government obviously is trying to get pass this, and it don’t make no sense not getting past this.”