By SANCHESKA BROWN

Tribune Staff Reporter

sbrown@tribunemedia.net

THE BAHAMAS Electricity Corporation blamed "system disturbances" for the two power outages that left 40 per cent of New Providence in darkness for several hours on Monday night.

In a statement BEC said power was restored to all impacted customers by early Tuesday morning. However the cause of the disturbances has not been determined.

"The Bahamas Electricity Corporation has restored electricity to all impacted customers following two periods of supply interruption overnight. BEC officials maintain that both outages were the direct result of system disturbances that were unrelated to BEC’s generation network," the statement said.

"To explain further, the first disturbance occurred at approximately 8pm and was caused by a fault on a 33Kv high voltage cable. As a result of the fault, supply was lost to approximately 40 per cent of customers in New Providence.

"Once the cable was isolated, supply was re-routed and electricity was restored to all impacted customers by 9.26 on Monday night. Shortly after, there was another system disturbance on another high voltage cable at 10pm.

"This resulted in another outage impacting the same group of customers. Again the cable was isolated and supplies rerouted. Restoration was complete shortly after midnight on Tuesday."

BEC said officials are currently investigating both outages and are carrying out checks on both cables to determine what caused those system disturbances.

Once the cause of the fault is determined and repairs made, those cables will be returned to service. In the meantime, customers should not expect similar challenges as supply has been re-routed using other feeds, the statement said.

The Corporation reiterated that the overnight challenges were not related to the availability of generation as BEC’s existing capacity exceeds its present peak demand.

BEC has been grappling with issues over the past few months, which have led to multiple power outages. The government began negotiations with American company PowerSecure International over a five-year BEC management contract in May, and signed a transition services agreement in late July.

At that time, Deputy Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis said the new plan would ensure fewer blackouts and power outages for the country.