Bahamas Power and Light Company Limited has said that it does not have enough generating capacity to supply all of New Providence at once, which is the reason behind the island’s frequent power cuts.

In a statement sent yesterday, officials said the company understands the frustrations of customers in the Family Islands and New Providence, where there have been sporadic power cuts during the hot summer.

“The company has faced challenges in providing consistent power in several islands as generation, transmission and distribution systems have been compromised due to adverse weather conditions, an aging infrastructure, usual wear and tear, third party damage (accidents) and a general lack of availability of adequate generation to meet customer demands,” BPL said.

“Nowhere have these challenges been more pronounced than in New Providence where the majority of the outages experienced recently have been caused by the unavailability of consistent power. At present BPL’s generating capacity in New Providence is 236.5 megawatts.”

BPL said at present the demand from customers hovers around 230 to 240 megawatts daily.

“What this means is that at some points there may not be sufficient generating capacity on the island. The problem is exacerbated if at any given time there is an issue with any available unit. When this happens there is an even greater generation shortfall,” officials said.

“The impact to our customers has been periods of supply interruption mostly during the daytime and evening hours. While BPL has an immediate and long term strategy to improve power reliability, in the short term the company is doing all it can to increase reliability to its customers.”

Officials said repairs are underway to several unavailable units at both the Blue Hill Road and Clifton Pier Power Stations.

“It is anticipated that once these repairs are complete – some as early as the end of the week and others needing a bit more time – this will drastically improve reliability. Additionally, BPL has contracted 40 megawatts if rental generation that the company expects will be operational this summer,” the company said.

BPL said it is asking for customers’ patience as it tries to limit power cuts to entities with standby generators.

“If it becomes necessary to impact small commercial and residential customers, the company will do its best to ensure that these outages are managed so that no particular area is impacted for prolonged periods,” the statement said.

“BPL expects that its efforts in the next few days and weeks will drastically reduce the frequency of supply interruptions in New Providence. Similarly efforts are underway in the Family Islands to improve reliability in those communities that too have been impacted by frequent outages. BPL takes very seriously its commitment to improving reliability to all of its customers. While major improvements will not happen instantaneously, the company believes that over time customers will begin seeing positive changes in BPL’s service delivery.”

The company also promises to remain active on its social media sites Facebook and Twitter.