BL&P defends performance

Managing Director of the Barbados Light & Power Company Limited (BL&PCL) Roger Blackman has come out in defence of the utility company’s management of the aftermath of Hurricane Elsa despite tremendous criticism in some quarters about the lengthy delays in restoring power.

During Tuesday afternoon’s press briefing at the Department of Emergency Management, Blackman declared that the company had been “very well prepared” for the passage of Elsa, but noted that with any cyclone, damage was to be expected.

After four days of continuous work, he revealed that 87 per cent of the country’s power had been restored, leaving 20,000 of the company’s 130,000 customers still without electricity.

Nevertheless, the managing director touted the company’s continuously updated hurricane preparedness manual along with numerous preparation meetings that allow managers and supervisors to report on their levels of readiness for a tropical cyclone. This, Blackman said, is followed by checks of the substations along with comprehensive assessments of the BL&P’s infrastructure that is also reported to the DEM at the start of the year.

“There is quite an extensive preparation that we have in place and those checks were all made. All the checks that we needed to check off were checked and we were very prepared. On this occasion, once the hurricane had passed and they received the all clear, all of those procedures that we have in place took effect and the crews were out in the field doing the inspections and repairs that we need to have in place,” Blackman told reporters.

In fact, he added that not even Tropical Storm Tomas over a decade ago had spared the country’s telecommunications infrastructure.

“We take the approach of whether it is a tropical storm or a hurricane, all of the same procedures take effect and are put in place and clearly for higher category hurricanes, the impact would be more severe. So what we saw with this particular event and this hurricane, Elsa, had been a category two, three, four or five, naturally, you would expect to see greater damage on the network,” said Blackman.

“But again, the same answer I gave for a category 1, I would give for the higher levels as well. The only difference is that it would be more severe, the amount of work required would be more significant and there is no way we would be where we are in terms of the restoration had it been a more severe hurricane,” he added.

When asked whether the company was suffering from a case of insufficient personnel, Blackman noted that such concerns would be quelled with the arrival of a crew from the BL&P’s affiliate power company in Dominica.

“Those would supplement what we already have on the ground, and it would allow us to mitigate against any potential issues, existing crews, illness, or if someone can’t come out to work, we would have those additional resources to give us greater flexibility as well on the ground to address the issues we are facing right now,” he concluded. (kareemsmith@barbadostoday.bb)