Electricity outage report completed

Barbadians are one step closer to knowing if they will get compensation for the island-wide electricity outage that occurred exactly a year ago.

The Fair Trading Commission (FTC) said on Thursday that it had concluded its investigation into the November 18 and 19, 2019 electricity outages and completed its Findings Report on the factors which contributed to the events.

A statement from the commission said the Findings Report contains the FTC’s assessment of the circumstances and cause of the outages based on its review of all information submitted to it by the Barbados Light & Power Company Limited (BL&P), some of which was submitted as recently as September 2020, and its own investigation and analysis.

“In accordance with Section 30 of the Fair Trading Commission Act, CAP. 326B, the Findings Report was issued to the BL&P on Wednesday, November 18, and the BL&P has been given 14 calendar days to respond. Thereafter, the commission will issue a summary of the Findings Report to the public,” said the FTC.

“Due to the commercially sensitive nature of information contained in the document, the full Findings Report will not be published. Following receipt of the BL&P’s comments on the Findings Report and after the issuance of the Findings Report summary to the public, the commission will determine if enforcement action is warranted,” it added.

On Monday, November 18 last year, the approximately 130,000 customers of the BL&P woke up to a blackout just before 7:30 a.m.

While power was fully restored by 11:10 p.m., the next day the utility company reported that one of its large diesel engines shut down due to a stuck fuel pump overnight, leaving customers again without electricity for several hours.

The FTC said its investigation was an extensive one, which involved the request, submission and comprehensive review of several documents.

The FTC said it also conducted its own extensive research, adding that this was critical in ensuring that “there was a full understanding of the facts and circumstances to support a thorough technical analysis within the context of legal and regulatory requirements”.