FOLLOWING: BPL investigating island-wide power outage

FOLLOWING: BPL investigating island-wide power outage
Bahamas Power and Light (BPL).

Some NP residents left powerless for hours on Saturday

NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Bahamas Power and Light (BPL) officials are investigating the cause of an island-wide outage on New Providence, thought the cause remains unclear.

Consumer were left powerless on the island shortly after 1 pm, BPL confirmed.

According to BPL Director of Public Relations Quincy Parker, power was expected to return within two hours from the onset of restoration efforts.

“We are investigating the matter now, and will keep customers updated as we get information,” BPL said.

“We anticipate two hours’ restoration time from the onset of restoration efforts.

“We appreciate our customers’ patience and again, we will update as information comes in.”

As of 2 pm, BPL said it had restored customers in the area of the Supreme Court, Rawson Square, Bank of Nova Scotia, Royal Bank of Canada, Wellington Street, Hospital Laane, Laird Street, Fleming Street and Solomon’s Mines.

The power company said customers in or on Lakeshore Road, Water Street, Huyler Street, Rupert Dean Lane, Dunmore Street, West Street, Ferguson Street, Curtis Road, BTC, Finlayson Street, Super Value on Nassau Street, Meadow Street, Polhemus Street, Scott Street, Augusta Street were restored soon after.

BPL said the vast majority of customers’ power was restored  by 4:51pm.

However, it indicated around 5 pm that teams were still working to repair damaged equipment that was affecting consumers in Skyline Drive and Cable Beach.

It estimated repairs could take between one and a half hours and seven hours.

Meanwhile, the power company said a separate team was working to repair damaged equipment affected areas including Ethyl Street, Montel Heights and Robinson Road.

It estimated these repairs could take between one and a half hours and three hours.

While frequent power outages observed last year have not repeated this year so far, there have been sporadic outages in recent days across the nation.

This morning, an accident in Pleasant Bay, Andros, knocked down an HV pole, leaving around 35 consumers without power.

BPL said it was working to replant the pole and restore service.

There were reports of outages in South Bimini on Monday.

BPL said an assessment was completed and a course of action was determined, of which the first phase had been completed.

Power was reportedly restored around 2pm.

There were also reports of outages on Cat Island yesterday.

According to the power company, a burning pole in the area east of Zonicle Hill, Port Howe, affected 90 consumers.

On Saturday, BPL customers in Eastern New Providence were without power for several hours yesterday after an “issue” arose around 10:45am at the a substation in Eastern New Providence.

The outage affected portions of Jubilee Gardens, Palm Breeze off Carmichael Road, Prince Charles, Stephens Close, Glenniston Gardens, Sandilands Village, and Bellott Road East.

BPL said its teams were on site and some areas had been restored by 11 am.

“We appreciate our customer’s patience as we continue to work toward complete restoration of power on the island,” the power provider said.

Shortly after 1 pm, BPL said it had rectified the issue at the substation and the affected areas had all be restored.

In February, BPL said it was working assiduously to ensure readiness to meet peak summer demand and avoid a repeat of last summer’s power woes.

Sources close to the power provider indicated yesterday those efforts are ongoing, having brought on substantial generation capacity at its Clifton Pier Power Station.

Story updated at 2 pm and 7 pm to reflect areas restored with power.

About Royston Jones Jr.

Royston Jones Jr. is a senior digital reporter and occasional TV news anchor at Eyewitness News. Since joining Eyewitness News as a digital reporter in 2018, he has done both digital and broadcast reporting, notably providing the electoral analysis for Eyewitness News’ inaugural election night coverage, “Decision Now 2021”.