The repair bill for the Bahamas Electricity Corporation (BEC) will be much higher than expected, Guardian Business has learned, as new reports from Eleuthera indicate "extensive" work is still needed to fully restore the island's system.

Michael Moss, the chairman of BEC, said there are many "deficiencies that must be addressed" on Eleuthera that will likely push the cost of restoration up.

The hurricane bill currently stands at around $5 million.

"In terms of Irene, I am still reading reports from Eleuthera on additional work that needs to be done to restore the system," he said.

"Eleuthera seems to be the area that needs the most when it comes to this type of attention. I am told there is still extensive work to be done."

The BEC chairman was reluctant to cite a dollar figure for these further repairs. Moss added, however, that the problems are beyond cosmetic.

"It's more than cosmetic but it's not hurting the system right now. But it can't be left the way it is," he felt.

Hurricane Irene, which passed through The Bahamas about two months ago, has had lasting consequences on the infrastructure of the Family Islands and New Providence.

Fortunately, repairs to the other Family Islands are pretty well "mopped up", he explained.

Tommy Sands, president of the Chamber of Commerce in Eleuthera, said the BEC restoration effort has done an "excellent job" considering many of the challenges the company faced.

He explained that low manpower and poor equipment made the process longer than hoped, however.

""I would say they have done an excellent job overall, from what I have seen and heard," he told Guardian Business.

"What they did initially is focus on the larger populations, so there would have been persons who were cut off for longer period (of) time. But given the amount of damage, they did well."

Turning to BEC's overall capacity, Moss reported that the company has commenced a major overhaul of the combustion turbines at the Blue Hills plant.

Four turbines require work, he explained, and one will be completed by the end of the month and the other before the end of 2011. The other two are scheduled to be repaired early in 2012.

At the Clifton Pier facility, large diesel overhauls and repairs are well underway, the first of which should be finished by Oct 26 and another shortly thereafter.

Moss said, with reduced work load, now is the time to make some much-needed repairs.

"Fortunately, all of this is taking place at a time of reduced load," he explained. "This is when we would want to go about major overhauls."

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