More than a week after a fire at the Bahamas Electricity Corporation's (BEC) Blue Hills Power Station triggered a "catastrophic failure" of its generators, BEC said yesterday "challenges on its generation network" yesterday led to power outages for hours.

The corporation said two engines at its Clifton Pier Power Station were taken offline yesterday morning for necessary repairs.

Two more engines at the Blue Hills Power Station were also offline yesterday, according to BEC.

As a result, BEC said it was unable to meet peak demand in New Providence.

The corporation said customers in New Providence may experience interruptions in supply until repairs are completed. However, there was no clear timeline provided on the repairs.

"BEC officials assure the public that best efforts are being made to bring these engines online in the shortest possible time, ending the generation shortfall and also providing BEC with a necessary reserve," the corporation said.

"BEC apologizes to customers impacted by the outages and requests the public's patience as they work to carry out repairs and return the engines to service."

Over the last couple of weeks, frequent power outages have disrupted businesses and thousands of residents.

The government has long promised to provide long-term energy security to producers and consumers; increase energy efficiency and to provide modern and expanded energy infrastructure.

Speaking about the establishment of the National Energy Task Force in Parliament yesterday, Deputy Prime Minister Philip Brave Davis said restructuring BEC is imperative, noting the "energy provided by BEC can be unreliable at times".

He said the incident on March 13 resulted in the second island-wide outage for the year.

A restructured BEC with a new partner is expected to save consumers around $200 million and significantly improve service, according to Davis.

More than 18 months have passed since the government announced its plans to restructure the struggling corporation.

The government has delayed announcing the deal several times. Davis said recently that questions relating to the deal should be directed to Prime Minister Perry Christie.

Last Wednesday, Christie repeated that the "ball is in my court".

But a decision has yet to be announced.

"The administration has set out on the journey to totally reform the energy sector of The Bahamas," Davis said in Parliament.

"This journey is not short and must be continued across administrations until we arrive at a desired destination.

"As a government, we are doing our part.

Change will come to positively impact cost, reliability, efficiency and environmental sensitivity."

In accordance with the amended Electricity Act, customers can install and operate renewable energy generating stations that can be connected to the electricity grid.

The act came into effect last Friday.

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