AS many consumers yesterday grappled with hours-long power disruptions in the sweltering heat, Bahamas Power and Light CEO Shevonn Cambridge said an internal review is underway to determine whether there will be an increase to billing by way of a fuel charge adjustment.

Mr Cambridge said the review will evaluate if the necessary “triggers or threshold” have been reached to require the company to make the adjustment.

This as fuel prices continue to rise as a direct result of the war in Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Mr Cambridge assured the public BPL has sufficient capacity to handle demand this summer in New Providence.

“Right now, there is a fixed fuel charge,” Mr Cambridge said in an interview with The Tribune.

“There is a mechanism in place that allows for the adjustment of that fuel charge. We’re currently conducting an internal review to see if the necessary triggers or threshold have been reached that will require us to do that adjustment.

“Based on the current fuel prices, right, when it does come it will be up - it won’t be down. Exactly when that will occur, we’re not certain as yet. So, the prices have gone up, so obviously when we adjust more than likely the adjustment will be an upward adjustment.”

Asked for clarity on whether the adjustment will mean bills are likely to increase, he said: “They will see an increase in the fuel charge when that adjustment occurs. Their bills depend on their consumption but remember I told you we’re going into our peak demand period.

“Our peak demand period is really because this is our peak consumption period because most of the load in The Bahamas is A/C related. So, as you get in the summer, people start to consume more. So, even if the price remains the same most consumers will probably see a slight increase due to an increase in their consumption”.

The revelation comes as parts of New Providence experienced power outages on Sunday and yesterday. BPL released a statement regarding Sunday’s outages explaining they were the result of “two separate incidents”. The company said 31 areas were affected.

The release said: “At 1.23pm several areas in Central New Providence went offline when a system disturbance occurred at our Clifton Pier Power Station. This problem was resolved in under an hour and the areas were fully restored. On the heels of this event, however, at about 5.30pm, severe lightning conditions were experienced on the island of New Providence, impacting generation, transmission and distribution systems.

“As a result, a number of areas throughout the island, including Southwest and Eastern New Providence were impacted. These areas had transformers, and lines impacted as a result of direct lightning strikes. The public is reminded that BPL does not turn off areas in advance of most weather events, but protective devices such as fuses and circuit breakers operate to disconnect affected areas to ensure the safety of the general public and to reduce the risk of equipment damage. In all, 31 areas were affected by the inclement weather yesterday.”

The releases added: “BPL is committed to ensuring the safety of our customers, employees and equipment. Thus, once indication of safety was given after the weather conditions subsided, crews were dispatched to commence repairs and restore supply. Due to the significant amount of areas impacted by this event, it took our crews a number of hours to restore impacted areas and begin addressing individual customer concerns. The majority of customers impacted were restored by 9.00pm. Our crews continued to work into the morning to restore the remaining customers. As at 11am today (yesterday), our Control Centre reported having two areas and 41 individual complaints outstanding.”

The CEO also assured consumers that the island has sufficient generation to address the anticipated summer peak.

“We are supplementing our fleet with rental generation for the summer and that was out of an abundance of caution to ensure that we’re able to meet the demands. While we have a large fleet of our own, we analyse some of the trends (and) what have you and just based on some of the trends that we’re seeing we felt that it was necessary to supplement some of our generation,” he said.

He also said: “Other than the demands, I know from a liability perspective we’ve been doing a lot of reinforcement on the transmission and disruption network. So, we’ve put in additional lines and some of the areas where there were capacity concerns about transmission and disruption capability. So, we’ve done some system reinforcement.”

In April Works and Utilities Minister Alfred Sears said “there is always the possibility” of an increase in Bahamas Power and Light bills due to external factors.

However, Mr Sears said the Davis administration intends to maintain BPL’s fuel hedge strategy, which, he said, seeks to “minimise” the unpredictable international market.

Mr Sears has warned that a blackout-free summer for New Providence cannot be guaranteed despite multiple preventative measures. Mr Cambridge asserted that efforts were being made when questioned whether he is confident the power company can reduce the number of blackouts.

“What I can tell you is BPL is taking every step and precaution that we can to mitigate against such incidents, but you know I’ve been in the business long enough to know the minute you make that statement the next day something happens. What you can do is that you plan and you plan to try and mitigate all of the risks,” he said.

“In this business, there are so many variables as you can see yesterday with the weather, we’re in the middle of the hurricane season, you enter into what you call the peak demand season. So anything is possible but what I can tell you is that we are constantly working on our processes to try and make it more efficient and more reliable.”

“So, what does that mean? We’re taking all of the preventative measures in terms of maintenance. We’re analysing all of the trends. We’re looking at a number of different perspectives and we’ve put in place contingency plans to ensure that if and when the power does go off that we’re able to restore it in the quickest possible time. That’s short term plans, long term plans.”

Real estate developer Aristo's latest Cable Beach project, the $100 million Aqualina, is three floors out of the ground with costs six to eight percent higher than expected due to global inflation, President of Aristo Jason Kinsale said yesterday, adding that the development has had to increase its prices as a result of increasing costs.

The 11-floor, 27-unit development is already 60 percent sold.

The project’s penthouse is on the market for $10 million, while lower units range in price from $3.2 to $5.8 million.

Kinsale spoke to the media after giving a tour of the Aqualina construction site to Prime Minister Philip Davis and several Cabinet members.

Kinsale said while the company has had to raise prices due to the inflation caused by COVID-19 and Russia’s war in Ukraine, he is hopeful that when the finish work begins on the project, global price increases would have begun to abate.

“There’s definitely been an impact from inflation, there’s no denying that,” said Kinsale.

“Concrete prices have increased. Fortunately we have been able to offset our price increase through an increase in prices of our products.”

He said Aqualina should be completed by December 2023.

According to Kinsale, the real estate boom in The Bahamas and Aqualina’s beachfront location mean sales have been firm. 

“We really find that there’s a tremendous desire to be located on the beach in The Bahamas,” he said.

“We all know the value of the asset that we have here. Sometimes we take it for granted but many people don’t. We’re 60 percent sold in Aqualina now, so we’re very happy with the result. We’re seeing buyers from Europe, we’re seeing buyers from Canada, from all over the world. The United States obviously. People are seeing value. They are seeing scarcity. I think this is probably the busiest time that I’ve seen in The Bahamas for real estate. If you’re looking at some of the more desirable communities, there is barely any inventory, and that’s been helping us as well.”

Davis said he is proud of what Aristo has accomplished and explained that with 60 percent of the unfinished development already sold and 100 jobs filled, the economic impact is already being felt.

“It means that we will be getting our VAT (value-added tax) on those sales,” said Davis.

“We hope to see those purchasers visiting and putting heads in beds here and shopping again.

“I know he had a lot of challenges getting it [Aqualina] off the ground, so I’m happy to see that he is where he is in the project. Sometimes seeing is believing.”

HOUSE Speaker Patricia Deveaux sharply rebuked National Emergency Management Agency director Captain Stephen Russell yesterday, telling him "you need a 9 to 5 job" and suggesting he did not have the same vision as the government to advance the country.

At one point, the Speaker who is also Bamboo Town MP, intimated that Captain Russell was busy at home “watching the game” when she appealed for help.

The Speaker’s lashing of the NEMA official was sparked by her displeasure with Captain Russell’s response to her calls for assistance with damage in her constituency after a tornado touched down in the area on Wednesday.

While she admitted various agencies responded to her calls for help, she singled out NEMA and its director as being absent, adding that when she did speak to Mr Russell he directed her to the Ministry of Works.

Unhappy with the response, Speaker Deveaux said she warned Captain Russell that she would speak on the ordeal from her chair at the next sitting of Parliament.

Contacted yesterday, Captain Russell said he would not comment and directed The Tribune to a statement released by NEMA outlining the sequence of events. The statement sought to prove that throughout the day and for a number of hours, Captain Russell personally remained on the scene was busy working in the aftermath of the tornado.

Myles Laroda, minister with responsibility for NEMA, told the House of Assembly that Captain Russell told him that he was not aware of issues at Bamboo Town. However he summed the issue up as a “complete breakdown” of communication.

Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Chester Cooper said the matter would receive attention at the highest levels.

Speaker Deveaux said: “… What I did not see on the ground was NEMA and I am saying this because I reached out to Commander Russell... I don’t know if he was home busy watching the game ‘cause I hear they had a game last night, but I could say that he was not there and that is who we have to reach out for emergency response.

“I am terribly, terribly disturbed by that and I say to him, I told him, I did not lie to him, I told him that I would speak to it from my chair. This is where I have my voice.”

“I had senior citizens at the age of 80 who had live wires, electrical wire hanging and also no roof and no electricity last night. They had to go to bed with such damage to their house and what I can say is we had the team on the ground, but NEMA was not present,” she continued.

“Natural disasters do not happen between nine and five. Natural disasters can happen at any time, in the dead of the night and so I say this to say these people if they want a desk job from 9 to 5 give them their desk job cause I had a natural disaster last night and the minister and all of these other persons were on the ground until 9pm last night trying to help me bring some resolve and this morning the Ministry of Social services is sending breakfast out. Thank you, minister, to those persons making sure that they’re having hot meals and we are trying to find some roof to put over their heads as we speak.

“… I reached out to the honourable member for Pinewood (Myles Laroda) and he was very, very helpful with me yesterday, but sometimes we have persons who are on assignment under our umbrellas that do not have the same vision that we have in place to take this country forward. So, I am very disturbed about that and they’ll understand me.

“When it comes to Bamboo Town I don’t second guess and the way those persons had to sleep last night was unbecoming. So, you tell Mr Russell for me if he is listening, let me tell me you ‘you need a 9 to 5 job because I call 7, 8 o’clock in the night you telling me Ministry of Works? The Ministry of Works was already on the ground. They were already on the ground so the only persons that were not present was NEMA. So, I don’t know. They talked about Jesus yesterday fixing it, fix it Jesus.”

For his part, Mr Laroda said he conveyed the Speaker’s displeasure to Captain Russell.

“I feel your pain,” the Pinewood MP said following the Speaker’s criticism. “I would have spoken to yourself. I would have spoken to your aid. I would have spoken to the member for Golden Gates with respect to the tornadic activity that happened yesterday (Wednesday).

“I had two conversations with the director of NEMA. I conveyed your disappointment. I’m not going to sugar coat it. I let it be known that there were other agencies that turned up, in particular, the Ministry of Works and also the team from social services.

“I was advised and I am just giving the public the record of what happened by Commander Russell that the tornadic activity was in the Cowpen Road area and that’s where NEMA had focused (and) that he was not aware that Bamboo Town had any concerns, that was the message he conveyed to me.”

The Speaker responded, “Oh really?”

“I would have said to him,” Mr Laroda continued, “that in speaking to other members that there were at least three communities that were affected.

“After conveying that message I would have spoken to the permanent secretary to convene a meeting sometime today with Commander Russell and the team from NEMA and there will be no stones left unturned with regards to the response.

“I conveyed your message word for word what you had experienced (and) that in particular that it affected two 80-year-old individuals and without going into detail my exact words, if what you are saying was correct and I have no reason not to believe you, that there was a complete breakdown in terms of communication and response.”

PUBLIC Works Minister Alfred Sears said officials are addressing flooding issues created over the weekend by heavy rainfall, especially in view of the 2022 Atlantic hurricane season which will soon open.

After several areas of Western New Providence, including Coral Harbour, Cable Beach and Carmichael West, experienced record levels of rainfall, concerned citizens wanted to know what government is doing to address the issue.

Outside the House of Assembly yesterday, Mr Sears said his ministry had commenced drainage clearing earlier this year.

“Because we started the drainage clearing earlier this year, we’ve had in many of the areas where there was a concentration of rainwater the dissipation was quicker,” the minister said yesterday. “However, Nassau is not a grand city and therefore in the past we’ve had the construction of homes and commercial businesses in our sensitive areas, in flood plains and valleys.”

Mr Sears also noted how his ministry has already designed short and medium-term plans for Pinewood Gardens in relation to drainage, adding that he worked with the community to develop these plans.

“We’ve had meetings with the community in Pinewood and we will continue those meetings so that the residents will be aware of what we are doing.

“The solutions include the installation of 600ft wells, which is twice the depth of many of the existing wells as well as the installation of new technologies that will be underground.”

In addressing other areas heavily affected by the weekend flooding, Mr Sears pointed out that these areas were built in low-lying areas highly susceptible to flooding.

Despite this, he wanted to assure the public that his ministry will pursue an aggressive campaign to fix the drainage systems in those flood prone zones.

“The team have also designed a solution for the East Bay Street area as well as some of the other areas like Pinewood, which are in the valley between ridges as well as some of the coastal areas such as South Beach, where you have the phenomenon of rising sea levels.

“And therefore, those areas tend to be susceptible to flooding.

“But the bottom line is that a very aggressive maintenance of clearing of drainage as well as drilling additional wells and introducing new technology that will help to alleviate the problems. But it’s an ongoing process and we will be holding a press conference, having community consultation so that we can track and monitor the progress being made in that regard.”

He further advised residents of Killarney that had been severely affected by flooding, due to much of the area being built on reclaimed land from lakes to call 601-2235 or 457-3188 for assistance if they are still experiencing extreme flooding.