By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Grand Bahama Power Company is “definitely competing for weakest link” in the island’s economy at present with last week’s outages described by private sector executives as “brutal”.

Dillon Knowles, the Grand Bahama Chamber of Commerce’s president, told Tribune Business “there’s not a lot of confidence” in the island’s utility provider and “they need to do a lot of work to get it back” after a July 9 lightning strike knocked-out generation capacity at its Peel Street plant and left it unable to fully meet power demand.

“We’re very concerned about it,” he said. “Obviously commerce is only as strong as its weakest link, and right now Grand Bahama Power Company is definitely competing for weakest link at the moment. This is having a significant impact on the business community and, any time you impact the business community, eventually you are going to impact your customer base and the economy as a whole.

“What we are finding is that the industrial companies and essential services have always been on the priority grid, so they’re operating with little to no impact, but the commercial and retail sector is experiencing far too many outages and the residential sector is in dire straits at the moment... When commerce dies so does society, so we cannot afford for that to happen.

“Obviously there’s a significant need for GB Power to figure out a quick fix for this, and then a longer-term solution that prevents this from happening in the future. It’s quite challenging for us in the public space to understand what may or may not have transpired to bring us back to this same condition,” Mr Knowles added.

“There’s not a lot of confidence right now, and they need to do a lot of work to get that back. I’ve spoken to them, and they’re going to see how they can provide more efficiently the commercial and retail sector district because if people don’t have jobs to go to they have no way of earning income and being able to pay their own bills. We all have to earn a living.”

Dave McGregor, GB Power’s top executive, could not be reached for comment before Tribune Business went to press last night, but it appeared as if the utility has made progress in restoring generation capacity and addressing the shortfall after Grand Bahama residents yesterday afternoon disclosed that “they’ve kept it on since Friday”.

GB Power, on Friday, gave “two days” as its restoration timeline while warning that its residential and business customers may still “experience temporary outages... as a result of the current shortfall”.

It had previously blamed its woes on a surge caused by a lightning strike that impacted the Peel Street plant on July 9, which resulted in “the loss of one of our primary generating units”. The utility added that Unit 33 had to be taken offline the following day due to what it described as “the absence of critical auxiliary support” from unit 31.

“This has resulted in a generation shortfall, directly affecting our ability to supply power reliably to all customers,” GB Power added. It said a generation specialist had already arrived on Grand Bahama, with a turbocharger specialist also set to arrive shortly. Both are to stay for summer to support repairs and “help strengthen systems against risk”.

“Our teams are working around the clock to troubleshoot and repair the affected units, with a restoration timeline estimated within the coming days.... As a result of the current shortfall, customers may continue to experience temporary outages until the affected units are fully restored,” GB Power said.

The latest generation shortfall, and inability to keep Grand Bahama fully supplied with electricity, comes at an especially sensitive time for the Power Company and the island’s wider energy regulatory regime.

Mr McGregor, speaking to this newspaper in November 2024 following a series of power outages and load shedding that disrupted last summer, asserted then that the company had “shored up reliability with temporary generation” and had “a very robust maintenance plan going forward” to prevent any repeat. However, just such an event has now occurred.

GB Power is still seeking approval of its proposed 6.3 percent base rate increase, for which it had sought regulatory approval last year and had hoped would take effect from New Year’s Day 2025. 

And, adding further pressure to the generation woes is the Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority’s (URCA) Supreme Court challenge to determine whether itself or the Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA) is the true regulator for GB Power and, by extension, the wider energy industry in Freeport.

The GBPA, which derives its authority from the Hawksbill Creek Agreement, and to which GB Power submitted its rate increase application, in a statement said it has demanded “a comprehensive performance update” from the utility as a result of the outages.

And, seeking to portray itself as being on the side of Grand Bahama’s residents and businesses, the GBPA said its own energy consultant - who it did not identify - has been asked to “conduct a full reassessment of GBPC’s generation assets, including a detailed review of the capacity, condition and maintenance of the system” to determine the cause of the generation failures.

“In light of the recent resurgence of widespread outages, the GBPA has since met with GB Power leadership and requested a comprehensive performance update. This data will be provided to our independent technical consultant, who has extensive experience working with utilities across the Caribbean and here in The Bahamas,” the GBPA said in a statement.

“This consultant has been tasked with conducting a full reassessment of GB Power’s generation assets, including a detailed review of the capacity, condition and maintenance of the system. Most importantly, the consultant will help determine the root cause of the persistent generation failures and advise on the immediate and long-term actions necessary to restore reliable service to Grand Bahama.

“The GBPA stands firmly with the residents and businesses of Grand Bahama. We hear your concerns and share your frustration. We will use every regulatory tool at our disposal to demand improved performance, accelerated investment and the quality of service our island rightfully expects.”

No mention, though, was made of the current status and fate of GB Power’s three-year tariff proposal, which the utility has previously argued is crucial to facilitating increased investment in its network infrastructure to improve both reliability and capacity. “The people of this island deserve a reliable and resilient electricity supply,” the GBPA added.

Pastor Eddie Victor, president of the Coalition of Concerned Citizens (CCC) group, a long-time critic of GB Power and an advocate for energy reform on Grand Bahama, argued that last week’s outages had again both strengthened the case for URCA to take over the utility’s regulation from the GBPA and for another energy provider to replace its 100 percent owner, Canadian giant Emera.

However, Mr Knowles said he was opposed to URCA taking over energy regulation in the Port area for fear it would weaken and undermine the Hawksbill Creek Agreement. “It’s been pretty brutal,” he acknowledged of last week’s outages, which also posed a health and safety challenge - especially for the elderly, young and sick - amid the island’s ongoing heat wave.

But he asserted: “I’m not a fan of breaking the Hawksbill Creek Agreement terms for any reason. That [URCA] wouldn’t be high on my agenda.” Mr Knowles said as far as he was aware GB Power’s proposed tariff increase remains before the GBPA and has “not moved any further forward”.

Yet he said he was unsure how the GBPA can “keep that in abeyance” when GB Power is “contractually guaranteed a certain rate of return and, if costs go up, they have a right to apply for a rate increase”.

Pastor Victor, giving an insight into how Grand Bahama’s quality of life was impacted last Thursday and Friday, said: “I’ve never seen it as bad as what happened in those 24 hours. My personal residence is in North Bahamia. The power in 24 hours has gone off five times’. From 3pm yesterday [Thursday] to 3pm today, the power has gone off five times.

“The first time was two hours, the second time was four hours, the third time was just over two hours, the fourth time was three hours and the fifth time was two hours. Then a business... I can tell you about a business where power was off for most of the day and came on only one hour ago....

“That business could not do their payroll online and, as a result, they had to get a portable wi-fi and a portable power unit to power a computer. Right now, that same business, they are doing their payroll still because they did not have power most of the day,” Pastor Victor added.

“If you have a retail business, can you imagine what that would cause if you had people come into your business and you have no AC? It works against businesses, and could have caused them to lose money, but you cannot claim against this power company. That’s where we are.”

Ginger Moxey, minister for Grand Bahama, in a statement said the Government had brought GB Power “to the table” and was working with the utility to provide temporary technical assistance over the coming weeks.

“The Ministry for Grand Bahama is aware of the power outages impacting residents and businesses, and has brought the Grand Bahama Power Company (GBPC) to the table to ensure a speedy resolution,” said Mrs Moxey.

“The Government has received a full briefing on the situation, and are advised that the problem relates to the damage of the GB Power Peel Street station as a result of a lightning strike. At this moment, we understand that Unit 33 that was undergoing corrective maintenance is now online, and all customers have successfully been restored.

“In addition, the Government is working with GB Power on proposed temporary technical assistance over the next several weeks. We fully acknowledge the deep frustration and inconvenience this has caused residents and businesses, and will continue to work with the relevant stakeholders on behalf of the people of Grand Bahama.”