Acknowledging that consistent load shedding throughout New Providence is a ‘crisis,’ Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis toured the Bahamas Power and Light (BPL) Clifton Pier and Baillou Hills generation plants on Sunday.

During the tour, the prime minister was briefed by BPL CEO Whitney Heastie and the Minister of Public Works Desmond Bannister on the progress of work being carried out to return consistent power to the residents of New Providence. 

Prime Minister Minnis was able to see the fleet of new generators that are part of the new 132-megawatt plant, now in progress, and engines that are in the process of being returned to full service.

“To the energy community, this may not fit the definition of crisis, but for Bahamian families that can’t cook breakfast, fill their gas tanks, buy groceries or even charge a cell phone, this is a crisis,” said Prime Minister Minnis.

“I understand the pain, I understand your anger and I understand the deep frustration of Bahamians throughout New Providence.”

The prime minister strongly re-emphasized that BPL is doing all it can to fix the problems long-term and is currently aggressively executing a plan to mitigate the shortfall in generation to ensure relief is provided to residents as soon as possible.

Prime Minister Minnis reiterated that the government is committed to doing whatever is necessary to alleviate this problem.

BPL is working to address the serious load shedding issues and has started to release a Daily Fact Sheet in its ongoing effort to better communicate the extent of the problems and the work being carried out to return the system to normal. 

The daily report details the day’s outcomes and provides updates on anticipated issues and progress for the following day.

BPL will continue to notify the public as additional generating capacity is operational.