By Fay Simmons

Tribune Business Reporter

jsimmons@tribunemedia.net

An Abaco convenience store owner yesterday said "unbearable" power outages forced her to close early over the weekend. 

Ms McIntosh, proprietor of Five Star Convenience Store, told Tribune Business that the island has been plagued with ongoing power failures since Hurricane Dorian in 2019. However, she said the outages have been more frequent during the past weeks.

“The electricity was off on the entire weekend but we’ve been having issues with the light for a while now, ever since Dorian to be honest, but this weekend was unbearable,” said Ms McIntosh.

“I was open for a while but we had to close because it was just too hot. They had to keep the door open and, even with that, it was just too much, so we had to close up because we had no idea when or if the electricity would turn back on.”

Ms McIntosh said her business, which has been open at its current Spring City location for a year, has seen a steady increase in electricity bills although she has employed energy saving techniques.

“I’ve been at this current location for a year and my bill has just been going up. First it was $200, then $300, now it's over $700 a month. I’ve been very mindful of my consumption; I pull out plugs when things aren’t in use but the bill keeps rising,” said Ms McIntosh.

“I did see a decrease after the Prime Minister said bills were going down, but that didn’t last long. Now the bill is right back up. I’m convinced they don’t read the meter, they just estimate.”

Kelly Pinder, manager of Cherokee Food Fair, said while her store did not close as a result of the weekend outages it has been incurring additional costs due to operating a diesel generator. She said the area has been dealing with both water and electricity outages since Hurricane Dorian, and the weekend’s power outage was “nothing unusual”.

“It costs us a lot of extra money on diesel every month to have to constantly run a generator. It really adds up. We’ve been dealing with this, I’d say, since Dorian. It seems like there’s just too much load and they haven’t been able to keep up with the demand,” said Ms Pinder.

On Sunday, BPL said power was restored to 80 percent of the areas affected by the recent power outages. Pledging that restoring service reliability in Abaco is its “highest priority”, it added that one of the offline engines is awaiting a replacement part from Brazil while the other is undergoing “a major overhaul” to leave just two of its four Wilson City units operational.

The plant normally has a 51.2 MW peak load generation capacity, but BPL said in a statement: “On Friday, August 8, inclement weather caused an interruption to parts of Central Abaco at 7.50am. Power was restored within 35 minutes.

“The following afternoon, on Saturday, August 9, a fault on one of our primary generating units at the Wilson City power station reduced available generation by 3–4 MW, resulting in a series of short load-shedding rotations.

“Crews immediately initiated repairs, a process that involves engine cooldown, inspection, disassembly, bearing replacement and gradual load testing. By 10am on Sunday, August 10, power had been restored to 80 percent of affected areas, with final restoration completed in Dundas Town at 1.15 pm.”

As for the two offline Wilson City engines, BPL added that one needs to replace “a failed lube oil heat exchanger, with the replacement part en route from Brazil. Once received, [it] is expected to return to service within ten days”. As for the other, “a major overhaul is in progress and is expected to be completed by mid-September 2025”.

Acknowledging that key repairs have been delayed, BPL blamed this on Hurricane Dorian, COVID-related supply chain challenges and “the age of the Wilson City plant”. It added: “Despite these obstacles, we are making every effort to complete repairs in the shortest possible time.”

To ease the burden on Wilson City, BPL said three Caterpillar generation units have been purchased to provide power to the Abaco cays. Installation on Man O’ War Cay began on August 9, and will restart once the weather allows, with Hope Town and Guana Cay to follow.

“We understand the frustration that comes with power interruptions, and we want our customers to know that restoring and enhancing reliability in Abaco is our highest priority,” said Marvin Green, BPL’s regional manager for the Northern Bahamas. “The steps we are taking now will place Abaco in a much stronger position for consistent, dependable power.”