Sandy Point Residents Suffer Heavy Losses from Power Surge
By Ryan Haas
Reporter- SKNVibes.com
BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS – ELECTRICITY officials still have not given any explanation for the power surge that hit the Sandy Point area on Sunday last, causing damage to residents’ appliances.~~Adz:Left~~
One resident of The Alley told SKNVibes.com, on condition of anonymity, that he suffered thousands of dollars in losses when the power surge on Feb 24 destroyed almost all the electrical appliances in his home.
The resident said that between 3:00 to 3:30a.m. Sunday morning, he became aware of the problem when he awoke and found that his bedside electrical clock was off. Upon examination, he realized his refrigerator was not working.
Further investigation also revealed that all of his major electrical appliances, including a radio, DVD/VHS player, television set and fluorescent tubes were damaged. The resident noted that his appliances are compatible with 220 volts of electricity, but on the morning in question, he estimated there was a power surge of approximately 440 volts.
Yet another resident reported that while on his way home from an engagement that morning he saw fire running along the lines of a number of lamp posts in the vicinity of The Alley.
When contacted, the General Manager of the Electricity Department, John Channer would only say that the cause of the power surge was “still under investigation and the public would be made aware as soon as reliable information is available”.
Sandy Point residents were further frustrated Tuesday evening when electricity service was again interrupted from 3p.m. till 7p.m. Despite unsubstantiated rumors that this outage was caused by a small electrical fire at the Sandy Point Primary School, Bertil Browne, an official for the Electricity Department, stated that the outage was caused by “standard, ongoing repairs in the area.”
The Electricity Department extended their apologies to the general public and asked for patience as these issues were being resolved.
