By FAY SIMMONS

TRIBIUNE BUSINESS REPORTER

jsimmons@tribunemedia.net

BUSINESSES are warning that prolonged and unpredictable power outages are now taking a serious financial toll, with small operators losing sales, inventory and productive hours as they struggle to keep their doors open without reliable electricity.

Mark A Turnquest, founder of the 242 Small Business Association and Resource Centre, said the outages have become so disruptive that they are “destroying the small businessman in the marketplace”, with businesses unable to plan around when the power will go off or how long they will be without electricity.

“It has been horrible, and they are fed up. My clients are fed up because they cannot have consistent electricity, and they cannot plan for it, especially convenience stores and the small little retail food places,” said Mr Turnquest

“They can't prepare and plan for beverages because beverages need to be cold. The ice cream has to be not spoiled. So it has been a nightmare, and a lot of them are losing money based on their ability to supply themselves because they can't.”

Mr Turnquest said outages ranging from two to eight hours are creating particular problems for food businesses that depend on refrigeration, while restaurants are also being forced to deal with spoiled meats, fish and other products.

“They're not certain when the lights will go off because it's too unpredictable,” he said. “Sometimes it go off for two hours, sometimes it go off for four hours, six hours, eight hours, and they call it rotational outage, but it's load shedding.”

“My advice to the executives of BPL and BGC is that they must correct this problem because it is destroying the small businessman in the marketplace,” said Mr Turnquest .

He said the disruption is also affecting retailers, many of which are in the midst of back-to-school shopping, with businesses forced to revert to manual receipt books when electricity cuts out and then re-enter transactions once power returns.

“The retailers just have to sometimes call a manual receipt book, which is far outdated. And when electricity come back, they have to rekey in the products they sold, which is causing havoc on inventory, and especially the cashiers, because they got to re-enter,” said Mr Turnquest.

He said the problem becomes even more significant when businesses have to reconcile their accounts at the end of the day, potentially creating additional overtime costs for staff.

“If you can't balance it, you have to go on to the next day, which is very ridiculous,” he said.

Mr Turnquest said payment systems are another major vulnerability for retailers, with about 80 percent of sales among his clients coming through credit cards, debit cards or digital wallets.

“When the credit card is not working, they have to be turned away because people have no cash on them,” he said. “Because everybody is going trying to go cashless, so that's a big problem.”

“With the  retailers, the credit card machines is the number one problem because they cannot function without it, they get 80percent of their sales from credit cards.”

Mr Turnquest said many businesses are less concerned about the rising cost of electricity than they are about whether they can actually get a reliable supply.

“The light bill is going up for two months, but that's not even their concern. Their concern is how they can get it on. They don't mind paying if they get it on,” he said.

He estimated that only about 40 percent small businesses have generators, with many operating from plazas and malls where installing individual backup generators is difficult.

The financial impact is also being felt by residents and businesses in Freetown, where Opposition MP Lincoln Deal said repeated outages have resulted in spoiled food for families and lost revenue and inventory for businesses.

Mr Deal said he has been helping families affected by the outages, noting that replacing a refrigerator full of groceries is not easy for households already struggling with the high cost of living.

“People are already dealing with a high cost of living. So when the power goes out for long periods and food spoils, that's a real financial hit,” said Mr Deal.

He said residents in the area have been dealing with the problem on a weekly basis throughout the summer.

“Freetown is also a business hub, so the businesses in the area are feeling it as well. They're losing revenue, losing inventory, and basically being forced to depend on generators just to remain open,” said Mr Deal.

“And, you know, once in a while, that's okay. But when you're having these outages consistently, that again is a real financial hit, and that hits your bottom line.”

Mr Deal said even businesses that can afford generators are facing additional costs because of the fuel required to keep them operating.

“When you're talking about outages every day for 12 and 14 hours at a time, you could imagine the type of financial hit that takes. Even if you have a generator, those generators need fuel. Fuel costs money, on top of already paying high BPL bills,” he said.

Mr Deal also questioned what remains to be done under the government's transmission and distribution upgrade programme, saying businesses need to know when they can realistically expect an improvement in reliability.

“Out of this 95 percent of upgrades, we need to know what that actually represents, what is still outstanding, and why are we continuing to see this level of disruption over the summer?” he said.

“Which substations, transformers and parts of the network are still vulnerable? What needs to be replaced? What's the timeline, and when can Bahamians really start to expect or notice improvement in reliability?”

The Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation (BCCEC) has also warned that the outages have become “downright unacceptably disruptive” for the business community.

The Chamber said some members have been forced to close their businesses and send staff home, only to later pay overtime to ensure work stays on track.

It also warned that businesses relying on backup generators are experiencing increased mechanical failures because of the continuous stress and load placed on the equipment.

The BCCEC called on BPL and the government to present measures to stabilise the energy supply, while also urging assistance to offset what it described as the “ever mounting losses of revenue”.

“We urge BPL and the government, present some measures to stabilize the energy supply and ensure that Bahamians and visitors are not finding themselves continuously inconvenienced by constant power outages,” said the BCCEC.

“At least assist in offsetting the ever mounting loses of revenue.”

The Chamber's warning comes as businesses continue to contend with outages that are affecting their ability to sell, preserve inventory, process payments and keep staff working — turning unreliable electricity into an increasingly direct cost of doing business.