WHY ARE THERE POWER PROBLEMS?

New Providence has been plagued by a string of power mishaps that have plunged the entire island into darkness over the past week. The Government is lucky that it held the election when it did in May or they would be in serious problems if the elections were held in the midst of this power issue. The public has lost confidence in BPL and its ability to solve the problem. The Prime Minister and the Energy Minister have been engaged in a vigorous campaign of explanation as to why we are where we are.  In sum, the issue is the grid is in such a bad shape that the improvements in power generation have discovered this weakness. There are the accidents that have happened by misadventure. At week’s end the CEO of BPL was apologizing for the loss of power and the fact that they cannot say when it will end. The government issued a set of guidelines to government offices to run off their generators for the next week and raise the thermostats in buildings that do not have generators, to ease the pressure on the system.  Trouble is most people in this country cannot remember a season when there have not been blackouts and no one seems to be able to solve the problem. The FNM was seeking to blame the PLP when Duane Sands sent out a voice note last week. PLP Chair Fred Mitchell said Duane Sands can’t speak because he did nothing when he was in government to solve the problem.