By FARRAH JOHNSON

fjohnson@tribunemedia.net

TECHNICAL difficulties recently forced Bahamas Power and Light to leave customers in the western area of New Providence without power for hours.

A statement published on the company’s Facebook page Monday evening advised the public that technicians had been dispatched to investigate the issue. Still, the company did not explain the exact cause behind the incident.

Speaking to The Tribune, Quincy Parker, BPL’s director of communications, said the technical issues that caused power outages in North and West Westridge, Sandy Port, Delaporte and the western portion of Theodore Lane, were caused by a “short in a circuit” on Munnings Road.

He said the problem has since been addressed.

When asked if the public could expect any more disruptions in the foreseeable future, Mr Parker said that  was “ impossible” one to answer.

“We are not expecting disruptions, but we cannot predict the circumstances of everything,” he said.

Still, he insisted the company is prepared.

“We have sufficient generation in our transmission and distribution network which is sufficiently strong, and we are prepared for any eventuality, but we cannot promise that there will be no interruptions.”

During the outage, disgruntled customers in affected areas took to the comment section of the company’s initial statement to voice their complaints.

“This was not what I had in mind when it came to warm wishes for the holidays from BPL,” one user quipped.

“This is the second time for the evening that the electricity is off. Just plain lousy!” another one added.

Other Facebook users pointed out that despite BPL’s new power plant, the company was still battling issues keeping the lights on.

“It’s been two hours and we’re still in the dark. Those new power plants are working wonderfully! Great job!” one remarked.

“Probably that brand new power plant you just bought. Nice work,” another asserted.

When asked whether this specific incident was related to Station A in anyway, Mr Parker insisted that was not the case.

“Last night’s disruption was not related to the start-up of Station A,” he insisted.

Earlier this week the company revealed its new multimillion power plant had been brought online.

The station is expected to boost energy and price security and increase reliability.