By ANNELIA NIXON
Tribune Business Reporter
anixon@tribunemedia.net
ELEUTHERA residents are threatening to withhold Bahamas Power & Light (BPL) bill payments in protest over persistent outages, mounting appliance damage and what they describe as prolonged delays when seeking compensation.
Residents across the island say unreliable electricity has disrupted businesses, threatened the well-being of vulnerable people and driven up household expenses, with some questioning whether BPL’s repeated promises of improved service will translate into more reliable power.
Aldred Albury, former local government representative for The Current settlement, said he has heard repeated complaints from residents who submitted reimbursement claims for damaged appliances to BPL but received no resolution.
“I have heard multiple persons express that same concern over the years that they filled out the form, provided all the documents and still never got no resolution,” he said. “I actually heard one person say that they submitted documents, and every time when they checked on it, they asked them to resubmit the documents because they couldn’t find them.” Mr Albury said he could not determine whether BPL is deliberately withholding compensation, noting that some residents had reported eventually receiving reimbursement. However, he called for the Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority (URCA) to investigate if the complaints reflect a widespread problem.
“If this seems to be a widespread issue of persons not being reimbursed, then maybe it’s a situation where URCA needs to investigate to find out if BPL is actually reimbursing persons for damaged appliances or not,” he said.
Mr Albury suggested that BPL needs a more effective system for processing and tracking claims. “Maybe a digital system or portal or something where it can be uploaded to ensure that it can’t get lost because it’s all digitised, and then persons can log in and see if it’s in progress, if it’s been approved, if it’s been denied, things like that,” he said.
Doon McKinney, a Governor’s Harbour resident, said she has lost four refrigerators and other equipment, including a dish washer, as a result of power surges over the past year-and-a-half despite having a whole-house surge protector and individual surge protectors on appliances.
“The fridges themselves would be over $5,000 because a full-size fridge is over $1,200,” she said, adding that shipping appliances from New Providence and paying to transport replacements and dispose of damaged units further increases the cost.
Ms McKinney warned that the electricity woes are undermining Eleuthera’s economic stability by preventing businesses from operating reliably.
“The other thing is, this is destroying the backbone of our economic stability because nobody can run their businesses,” she said. “People need printers. People need electrical tools. People need refrigerators.”
Ms McKinney said power interruptions occur multiple times daily and can sometimes leave residents without electricity for as long as ten hours.
She said the outages are particularly difficult for elderly residents, young people and those with medical conditions, while households that rely on electricity to pump water can also lose access to water when the power fails.
“People who have stoves that are electric, they can’t cook either,” she said. Ms McKinney, who operates an Airbnb vacation rental, said the outages have cost her business because guests are reluctant to stay without air conditioning.
“I’ve lost a lot of business because I have an Airbnb and people won’t stay if they don’t have air conditioning,” she said.
Ms McKinney also raised concerns about the implications of proposed developments in Central Eleuthera, including two projects she said are valued at more than $500m each. She questioned whether the island’s electricity infrastructure can accommodate additional demand from major developments while existing customers continued to experience unreliable service.
“I think the Government has to take care of the people first and this needs to be at a higher level than it currently is.” she said. “ This certainly is not progress. It’s totally unacceptable.”
Yuwanda Roberts, a Hatchet Bay resident, said the outages have affected her ability to rest, charge her phone and prepare for work.
“You barely have power,” she said. “You can’t charge your phone. When I get off at 8pm in the night, and got to be to work for 6m, no sleep because power’s off.”
Ms Roberts said she sometimes has to sit in her jeep because of the conditions at home, while power surges had damaged her air conditioning unit and living room fan. She also questioned why her electricity bill was higher despite having only one air conditioning unit operating, compared with two previously.
Ms Roberts said residents have become frustrated with what they view as repetitive explanations from BPL and the lack of meaningful responses to complaints raised in community messaging groups. She added that the loss of electricity also means lost access to water for many residents.
The residents’ complaints come amid a series of outages and rotational power supply exercises across Eleuthera in recent days, according to updates issued by BPL through its WhatsApp channel.
Last Thursday, BPL advised that electricity would be temporarily interrupted in Island Shores and Gregory Town because of a generation shortfall during peak demand, with the interruption expected to last around three hours. Later updates announced additional interruptions affecting Governor’s Harbour, Palmetto Point, Savannah Sound, Windermere Island, Double Bay, Little Bay and Ten Bay to facilitate overhead repairs and system configurations.
BPL subsequently announced a rotational supply schedule, with Governor’s Harbour scheduled to go offline at 7pm and return at 10pm, while Palmetto Point was scheduled to lose supply during the same period. The company said all supplies were expected to be back online by 1am, subject to change.
Further interruptions were reported on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. BPL attributed the disruptions to several issues, including a problem at the Rock Sound power station, a blown fuse affecting Gregory Town, emergency repairs to rental generation units, and faults involving generating equipment at Hatchet Bay power station.
On Sunday night, BPL said electricity had been restored throughout North and Central Eleuthera at around 11pm, with the system returning to normal operation after a generation unit came back online and additional equipment provided support.
However, additional outages followed on Monday. BPL said an issue with a generating unit caused two northern feeders to trip on under-frequency at around 7.30am, taking the Hatchet Bay power station offline.
Later that day, another fault affecting a generation unit at the station interrupted electricity supply at about 3.45pm. BPL said temporary generation units were supplying electricity but had limited capacity, prompting another rotational supply schedule.
Under that schedule, power was to be restored to Governor’s Harbour at 9pm, while North Eleuthera was temporarily taken offline. BPL subsequently reported that electricity was restored to Governor’s Harbour at about 9.46pm and said power was expected to return to all affected areas by midnight.