Quarter of all BLPC customers lost power on July 1

Barbados did not receive a direct hit from Hurricane Beryl but 25 percent or 35 000 customers lost power to their homes and businesses as the Category 4 system passed to the south of the country.

According to a Ministerial Report delivered by Home Affairs Minister Wilfred Abrahams on Tuesday in the House of Assembly, around 2 a.m. on July 1, 13 of Barbados Light & Power’s (BLPC) 61 feeders tripped or were manually taken out of service.

When the all-clear was given around 11 a.m. and an assessment started, it was found that a quarter of (BLPC) customers were without electricity. However, by the following day, 4 700 or three per cent of customers were still in the dark.

According to Abrahams: “As of July 5th, 2024, no customers were without supply. During the event, most of the outages were related to tree contacts with electrical infrastructure, broken conductors and wires coming off insulators.”

He explained that there were fewer than 15 damaged poles or blown fuses.

The island’s natural gas supply was maintained throughout the hurricane’s passage and there were no reports of low gas pressure, Parliament was informed.

“Neither the Barbados National Oil Company Limited nor the Barbados National Terminal Company Limited experienced significant damage from the passage of Hurricane Beryl. Crude and natural gas production from the oil fields continued unaffected for the duration of the storm. As did production from the gas plant,” the Home Affairs and Information Minister detailed. (IMC1)