Democratic National Alliance (DNA) supporters braved the scorching heat Wednesday morning on behalf of the Bahamian people to participate in a protest in front of Bahamas Power and Light’s (BPL) Baillou Hill Road Headquarters.
The protest was a response to major power outages over the last few weeks.
Deputy Leader of the DNA Chris Mortimer spoke on behalf of the party.
“We are literally being destroyed by the cost of electricity in this town, we cannot build The Bahamas on the back of an 18th century power company,” he said.
“Part of what we are doing here is to highlight that we are no longer going to allow those persons with entrenched interest to believe that we are idly going to stand by. We want to build a country that works for all Bahamians but we cannot do it with these guys. We cannot do it with BEC and BPL.”
Mr. Mortimer offered suggestions which included the country’s move to solar power.
“The first thing that we talked about doing – that won’t cost the Bahamian government – a dime is technologies like aero derivative engines, GE has one the LM60 Semans and a whole bunch of other companies have them as well,” he said.
“They are generators that deliver up to 100-150 megawatts that can be installed in less than three months and deliver power at a price that we need it. We’re talking about .10 to .12 cents kilowatts per hour versus the .38 cents per kilowatt an hour we are paying today.”
Standing in solidarity with the DNA was Free National Movement (FNM) member and activist Rodney Moncur, who said he was present as well to represent Bahamians who have been adversely affected by the power outages.
BPL officials are expected to bring several rental generators online within this week.
It is the company’s hope that with those units in place, the frequency of outages would be greatly reduced.