By NEIL HARTNELL

and ANNELIA NIXON

Tribune Business Reporters

Briland residents yesterday voiced fears of a diesel fuel shortage after a “nightmare” week of on/off Bahamas Power & Light (BPL) supply culminated in an island-wide outage on Saturday.

James Malcolm, a former Ministry of Tourism executive who is a realtor, and now runs a vacation rental/property management business on Harbour Island, told Tribune Business that businesses had suffered “no hardship or loss” yet thanks to their generators. However, the tourism hotspot is “on the slippery slope”, and that change if there is a repeat of the past week or diesel supplies are not replenished.

“The island is almost out of diesel. I’m down to the last seven gallons at my house,” he revealed. “It has been on and off for the past week. It’s been a nightmare. We all have generators for the rental villas and things like that, but as the diesel goes down there’s none left on the island. There’s no place to buy diesel on the island.”

Fresh diesel supplies were expected to arrive yesterday, or today at the latest, but Mr Malcolm said he had yet to see the boat dock when speaking to this newspaper in early afternoon. “We’re waiting for the barge,” he said. “The power has been on today, but if we have a repeat of last week, and it turns out to be on and off for long periods with no diesel on the island, we will have a problem.

“I don’t think it’s impacted businesses yet, but we’re on the slippery slope. It’s not impacted businesses; not yet.” Mr Malcolm estimated that BPL supply had been off “for the majority of the day; 70 percent of the day” on Saturday, following a four-five day period when it had been off for two to three hours at a time.

“Friday night was the worst,” he added. “Friday, it was off all night. My generator was on all night. The island is busy. There was a big wedding this weekend, and there are a lot of high school graduation trips. There’s number of families here.

“I’d say the island is 60-70 percent occupied. It’s not a good time To be honest, let’s hope they fix the problem. Let’s hope it stays on. To be fair it hasn’t affected businesses yet, but boy it’s close.”

BPL blamed a “blown bushing on transformer TX-02” for sparking the island-wide outage. It warned customers at 11.26am on Saturday: “Please be advised that Harbour Island experienced a plant failure at approximately 10.54am today. Initial assessments indicate a blown bushing on one of the transformers, resulting in an island-wide outage.

“A technician is currently on-site investigating the issue. We will provide additional updates as more information becomes available. We thank you for your patience as we work to restore power safely and efficiently.”

In a further update at 12.15pm that same day, BPL added: “Our team has determined that repairs to the affected transformer are estimated to take approximately one hour. Barring any other issues, power restoration will begin immediately thereafter.”

However, at 5.23pm it warned Harbour Island customers: “Following this morning’s plant failure at approximately 10.54am, which was caused by a blown bushing on transformer TX-02, our team has been actively working to complete the necessary repairs. The failure caused damage to key electrical components, and parts are being transported from mainland Eleuthera to assist with restoration.

“To manage the current generation shortfall, load shedding began at 4pm and is being conducted by feeders in two-hour intervals. The current cycle will end around 6pm and the rotation will continue until either the Aggreko or EMD units are available.” Planned outages are also set to occur on Harbour Island between 8am and 11am today.

As a result, some Harbour Island residents said they “can see” another summer protest on the horizon. They added that the constant outages and brown outs that have ruined their appliances with no refund or redress. While some have purchased generators, they also voiced complaints about having to pay high electricity bills as well as generator fuel and upkeep costs.

Robert Griffin owner of Captain Bob’s Market Place, which services mostly tourists, said Harbour Island gets “treated with such crappy services”. He noted having to pay $800 a month to run his generator, which he bought when he opened the store in 2011, because he “had to.”

“You ain’t got only the fact that we paying massive electrical bills to begin with,” he said. “Then, on top of that, you got to pay massive fuel bills for your generators to run while they doing their garbage.

“So, yeah, it’s actually really pathetic that The Bahamas government still got Harbour Island in this stage for an island with one of the greatest revenues coming into this country. And to get treated with such crappy services, it’s just unbelievable.

“Year round, I’d probably spend, I would say maybe $800 a month. And this time of the year... I just filled up two days ago, cost me $454. And I’ll fill up probably two three times a month, just to make sure I got them [generators] full for all the outages. It’s a nightmare.” Mr Griffin, who lives on mainland Eleuthera but owns businesses on Harbour Island, said he knows “both ends of it.”

Ms Jacqueline, another Harbour Island resident, added that when power goes out, so does the internet and water “so we’re getting hit with three blows”. She expressed frustration with the lack of timely updates pertaining to outages, adding that BPL is continuously disconnecting customers and, while the bill comes out on time, they “can’t keep the power on”.

Another source added: “I would say, like a week before all of this started to come up again, they sent crews here. I would say I saw about 12 BPL workers. The island is only three-and-a-half miles long. About 12 of them were here, disconnecting people. That was like last week. They are disconnecting people and here we are the following week, the grid can’t handle the power. If the power doesn’t stay on, why are y’all performing disconnections?”

“Marinas full and electricity going off so much you just see the yachts leave the docks and pull out and go, because it’s not good for them,” Mr Griffin said. “[The] cutting in and out, in and out from the generator of that marina, they stay having to cut in and take that load, cutting them off and on. So it affects us in every aspect. People coming to your house. Oh, God help them if the house ain’t got no generator. It’s just crazy.

“They should be very embarrassed, because when you’re looking at Harbour Island, you’re looking at some of the highest end clientele in this country coming to this island. We ain’t [second] home owners here, our visitors here. I’m talking about a visitor who paying $10,000, $15,000 a week. Some are paying $10,000, $15,000 a night to stay at certain places. So, you would think they’d try to look out to make sure we keep that type of client. But they sure ain’t making no effort.”

Last summer, about 350 Harbour Island residents protested in hopes that they would receive improved water and electricity services. Mr Griffin said “Harbour Island, right now, should have never stopped protesting.”

“The truth is that Harbour Island right now should have never stopped protesting,” he said. “Election coming, we get promise the world. What we gone receive is a whole another movie. We get promised they could do this, they could give you that, and they could take care and yet, on small businesses, they putting every pressure in the world on you.

“So, you trying to survive through all of the stuff but you shouldn’t be going through the basic necessities that our government should be taking care of. [That] shouldn’t be your burden. That should be something you get up in the morning, it’s just natural to you.”

Another source added: “It’s super hot right now, and then we have this issue every summer. And I think they promised us a plan last year where they said that this wouldn’t happen again. But here we are back at the same situation.

“It’s like the promises have been empty promises. They haven’t delivered on what they said they would. I understand we have generation issues. The island is busy. I can’t understand how they can’t figure out the amount of generation we would need during the peak of the summer. When it’s hotter, people use electricity more, and they don’t seem to get that.

“I can see it coming. People probably are being a little decent, but the more the year progresses and the hotter it becomes... because August and September, we’re in June are probably the hottest month. If it keeps happening, I can definitely see another protest coming.”

Also speaking to a potential protest, Ms Jacqueline said: “I could see it happening because to compare last year with the power outages, it’s worse.” She said she has spoken against those who show up for a “photo op” without fulfilling promises of better power services.

She added: “It is worse than last year. It hasn’t even begun yet, and it’s the worst. My thing is that tourism has dropped. This is now beginning to be our low season, and now we’re load shedding. I don’t understand that.

“One of the things I express in both groups, water and [power], I express don’t come up here with a piece of art in your hand for a photo op because we don’t want that. We want power that we pay for. We’ve had this for decades, but it’s worse. This is the worst I’ve seen in my 61 years. This is the worst. BPL is the worst.

“No one saying nothing to us as to how did we get to load shedding when you bought a brand new generator a few months ago? How did we get to load shedding with less tourists on the island? All of a sudden. March and April has passed us by. We’re less with tourists on the island, and now we’re load shedding? I don’t understand what’s going on here. It’s just mind boggling of what’s going on with BPL.”