NASSAU, BAHAMAS –I started this Independence month with a letter on BPL and unfortunately I am ending the month with yet
another.
I despair for my beloved Bahamas which appears to be in free fall on its way to implosion. Every day, all day we are being constantly bombarded with one set of drama and foolishness after another. As B. Azzan Johnson so rightly pointed out in his letter “The silence of misplaced outrage” published in the press earlier this week we, the people, are overwhelmed by the onslaught and stuck in a state of inertia, unable to react.
How we get so, Bahamas? Wake up and demand better!
This continuous abuse by BPL has to stop! Gubment and BPL should be ashamed of themselves. This gutless gubment has hidden themselves away on their cushy paid vacations (no doubt in air conditioned comfort) and left us here to suffer. I would like to ask a simple question of gubment and BPL – for what it’s worth – on behalf of we, the people: Please explain how BPL is being operated if our bills are going up, yet their service is going down, and their actions obviously indicate they are getting nowhere fast? Without reliable power, The Bahamas
will remain a third world country and backwards, unable to move forward. To my way of thinking, the best way to get value for your money is by working smart, strategically, and efficiently – doing the right thing the right way the first time and not in a pitchy patchy way over and over
again.
We need to stop allowing gubment to waste our time and money to their advantage and our detriment. W are suffering whilst being deliberately and literally kept in the dark about relevant information, and we demand of both gubment and BPL that you make it make sense. It is beyond disrespectful that nobody is checking for nor protecting our power needs. We, the people, deserve to have consistent and affordable power, first and foremost! Until that is achieved, no new large developments should be allowed to tie into the power grid. Does recent speculation on the charging demands from the increased sale of electric cars negatively affecting grid capacity hold true? Is proper research being carried out in these areas? The same can be said for the power demands promised to mega cruise ships docked at the Nassau Cruise Port. What will happen when they tie into the grid?
I am sure there are enough longstanding BPL line staff members working on the ground and in the trenches for many years who have some good ideas about how to address this ongoing unsatisfactory BPL situation. Have they ever been asked for their opinion on how to address these recurring issues? Why, in this 21st century, are BPL stations being struck by lightning? There have to be devices available to
mitigate this. Why are transformers blowing up and poles catching fire? Are they wired incorrectly or is there too much
load on the line? How can that be remedied?
Why haven’t the smaller stations (especially those on the Family Islands) been converted to solar power to comfortably run the areas they service and reduce the grid load? Can the same thing be done in Nassau on a larger scale in self contained blocks so that a problem in one area doesn’t compromise the entire grid?
Why hasn’t gubment offered incentives to citizens to purchase solar power for their homes and businesses to reduce grid demand?
No amount of flowery speeches and empty promises can cover up the fact that our power woes are real, hot, and heavy, and we have had enough! We demand better because we deserve better!
– Pam Burnside
