By ANNELIA NIXON

Tribune Business Reporter

anixon@tribunemedia.net

Bahamas Power & Light (BPL) yesterday pledged it will not this week disconnect Eleuthera customers over past-due bills amid rising outrage over frequent and long-lasting electricity outages. 

Noting that is “common practice for the company to do so on past due accounts”, BPL told Tribune Business that Eleuthera will not see a disconnection exercise. The belief that this would occur circulated widely on the island this week after social media posts urged customers to ensure their accounts were current ahead of a disconnection exercise due to last from August 5 through August 8.

Juanita Pinder, owner of Office General, replied to the posting: “To avoid what interruption when you ain’t get no service? You see the irony in this whole mess? They all over the place threatening people about disconnection. We pay our bills. For the most part, Eleutherans pay their bills. But people are irate about it. I run a business. People depend on me every day.”

Mrs Pinder and her husband, Roderick Pinder, voiced their frustration with BPL, noting that staff were unsure if they should close the store early or suffer through having no power.

“This is our busiest season of the year,” Mrs Pinder added. “We’re like a local Bookworld and Stationers, like John Bull. We sell office and school supplies. We’ve been in business from 1998. The people depend on us at this time for their back to school supplies, books and office supplies, as well for the businesses locally, for government offices. Everyone, pretty much depends on us.

The Governor’s Harbour-based store has experienced multiple hours’ long outages. Mrs Pinder noted that Nassau does not endure island-wide black outs ever other day any longer, so “why are Eleutherans being treated like this?”

Leatendore Percentie said a mass disconnection would have led to a “riot”, adding that BPL expects payment for poor services rendered. “You would have had a riot up here,” he said. “There would have been some consequences.

“You know what that reminded me of? Honest to God, and I hate to say this, I’m not a male chauvinist or anything, but that remind me of an abusive relationship or domestic violence, where someone beats up their partner or whatever, but yet they still want a nice dinner. That’s what that really reminded me of. How can you have the audacity?

“Or, if you go to a restaurant and the food’s bad or stale or something, and you’re not satisfied with the food, but they still expect you to pay a full price. That’s what they’re doing. When they do these mass disconnections, they bring like 20 people up from Nassau - about 20. Why can’t they bring 20 technicians to fix the situation - not just to collect and grab the money and go - and only God knows where the money goes.”

Mr Percentie added: “The irony of that is that BPL is now saying that, ‘Oh, your bill never been lower.’ But the thing is, there’s still no accurate way, in my humble opinion, of them reading your meters. And a lot of times it’s a guesstimate. And my understanding is that, at some point, someone will go and read your meter and make an adjustment one way or the other.

“So that doesn’t really make a lot of sense. But BPL has been claiming that electricity is now lower. And the only way your electricity can be lower, I’m hoping, is that if you’re not using it like it’s off so often. I mean, there are certain areas in Eleuthera, you can check the chat [Eleuthera BPL Hotline Whats App Group Chat] almost for the past 30 days, almost every day they had interruptions.”

Mrs Albury argued that frequent and extended power outages should mean lower electricity bills. She said while her BPL bill has not drastically increased like some others, she has not seen a decrease either, adding: “So if my power is off continuously for hours and hours, why am I still even being billed like that?” She pointed to damaged equipment that BPL has yet to reimburse her for.

“We don’t have a generator,” she said. “They burned up two of our copiers. We’re still waiting for BPL to reimburse us for those. It’s impacting our business. We lose business every time. They mess up our equipment from December. This is going into the ninth month.

“AC units ain’t functioning property and, yeah, we do have a back-up supply, surge protector for our building. But who can compete against power outages like this? And surges? The surges are so severe.”

While some in the BPL Whats App group spoke about standing outside power plants on the island, a post was shared suggesting BPL provide ice to the communities. One resident suggested that the power situation would not improve until they stand collectively and refuse to provide payments to BPL for less than satisfactory service.

One resident added that they should “harass the headquarters”. Mrs Pinder said Eleuthera in its entirety should shut down, but noted the result would still negatively impact Eleutherans. 

BPL acknowledged its customers’ frustration, adding: “We understand the deep frustration being expressed by our customers in Eleuthera. Many of our own employees, friends and family members live and work on the island, and they, too, are directly impacted by the ongoing challenges.

“We want to reassure the public that we hear them, we empathise with them and, most importantly, we are actively working on both immediate and long-term solutions to provide relief. In partnership with the Government of The Bahamas, we are hopeful that the upcoming Power Purchase Agreements for Eleuthera will help alleviate the strain on the island’s existing generation capacity.

“Eleuthera is a fast-growing economy, and our executive leadership and Board of Directors remain fully committed to implementing strategies that will address long-standing infrastructure issues and strengthen the reliability of supply. This is not just about power, it’s about people. And we are determined to set things right.”