BPL Says Western NP Power Issues Resolved, Defends Summer Readiness

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NASSAU, BAHAMAS –

Anthony Christie- COO, Bahamas Power and Light

“Last week we had an issue over the weekend in the Windsor Field or Weston, New Providence area. That issue was resolved, I think, around 7 p.m. on Sunday. So all those customers who would’ve been experiencing load shedding were fully restored.”

Since Thursday, thousands of residents in western New Providence have been dealing with repeated power outages, with some still without electricity days later.

BPL Chief Operating Officer Anthony Christie says the major outages that triggered last week’s load shedding have now been resolved, including the Windsor Field outage and transformer issues at the Blue Hills Power Station.

But even as those problems have been fixed, new underground cable faults have surfaced, sending crews to other parts of the island and slowing restoration for some customers.

Anthony Christie- COO, Bahamas Power and Light

“We do have an outage in West Bay Street near Sapodilla. It took a few areas on West Bay Street. We identified another cable fault, and I just passed the teams that they are now excavating.”

Crews are now focused on repairing that issue. Christie says the work should take about six to eight hours to complete.

Officials say while overhead line issues can often be repaired more quickly, underground cable faults require excavation, replacement, and testing, making them far more time-consuming to fix.

When asked if BPL was truly prepared for summer demand, BPL Board Executive Chairperson Christina Alston defended the utility’s preparations.

Christina Alston – Executive Chairperson, Bahamas Power and Light Board

“In terms of summer readiness, we had gone through the system. We had looked at everything. We made sure that the generation was online in New Providence. That is a part of our summer readiness. However, saying that the system is going to be on 100 percent of the time, that is a very unrealistic goal.”