The Barbados Light & Power Company (BL&P) Ltd. is in possession of more than 100 claims made following the passage of Hurricane Elsa on July 2.
Following the category one hurricane, which caused widespread power outages, several BL&P customers reported damage to property from fallen poles and power lines, while others complained of having to dump several items from their refrigerators or freezers due to the delay in the restoration of power.
During the final post-Elsa restoration update, BL&P’s Director of Operations and head of the hurricane team Johann Greaves said the company was in the process of reviewing the claims received so far.
“We have claims that are still coming in from customers at this point,” reported Greaves.
“There were some claims that came in related specifically to poles that had fallen and caused damage to persons’ property or vehicles. So that is one category of claims that we have received and they are in the process of being processed at this time.
“We have other claims that came in and there are still some coming in which we are seeking to look at and make a determination on. The actual specific numbers of claims I do not have at this point . . . but there are actually a number of claims that are being processed as we speak. Right now I would say we have in excess of 100 claims we are working through. So they will be worked through and then the necessary response will be provided to each customer,” he explained.
Two weeks ago, the utility regulator, the Fair Trading Commission (FTC), announced that not all electricity, water and telecoms customers would be compensated.
In fact, the FTC said the utility companies would be exempt from compensating residents under the Standards of Service provision, owing to “force majeure” – the legal definition of exceptional and unforeseen circumstances that prevent fulfillment of a contract.
The minimum standards of service provides for either compensation for individual customers or penalties in some cases where those standards are breached.
However, pointing to the exemption from the Standards of Service due to breaches in service being caused by conditions outside the utilities’ control, the FTC said “It is not necessarily automatic that the standards are being held in abeyance simply in the presence of the force majeure event or condition.
“However, in the case of the passage of hurricane, as with Elsa, it would be reasonable to expect the force majeure would apply and as such the affected utilities would be exempt from the requirements to pay compensation under the Standards of Service,” the FTC had said.
The BLP official said: “We are looking at that [the FTC’s position] as well as we go through the claims.
Meanwhile, Greaves indicated that the utility company received more than 10,000 reports through its ECI Restore app that was launched following the hurricane.
The application allowed individuals to enter required information and share photographs with the company from their location in real time. The phone’s GPS would select the closest pole and provide that data to the BL&P along with the footage.
That app will now be deactivated until the next weather system, said Greaves.
“This proved to be a very useful tool for us during the restoration process. We were able to get a lot of information in from our customers with very good pictures and very good description of the damage that was being observed out there. It definitely made the restoration effort a lot easier having that tool out there,” he said.
(marlonmadden@barbadostoday.com)
