Power outages hit hours after promises of electrical stability
By Ryan Haas
Reporter-SKNVibes.com
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| Minister with responsibility for Public Works and Utilities, Dr.Hon. Earl Asim Martin |
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts-LESS than twelve hours after Ministry of Public Works and Electricity Department officials promised electricity had finally returned to a state of normalcy in St. Kitts, outages swept across the island and left many residents questioning their competence.
Consumers also questioned what the EC $6.5 million spent to rent the generators had really bought them.
At a press conference yesterday (Nov. 13), the Minister with responsibility for Public Works, Dr. Hon. Earl Asim Martin informed the public that the rental of generators from Agreco International Projects Ltd. was “the quickest and most cost effective way to move the process forward and restore a reliable and continuous supply of electricity to our customers” following the October 2 fire that destroyed two engines at the Needsmust Power Station.
“With the operation of the Agreco generators on November 6 there will be no need for further load shedding. That is to say that we are now beyond the maximum we need to be at during our peak hours,” Martin said.
At roughly 9 p.m. last night this promise was broken when unexplained power outages began to sweep from St. Peters westward, and eventually encompassed the entire island.
SKNVibes spoke to one St. Peters resident who said they had little concern whether or not the engines at the power station were prototypes but that the populace deserved a steady supply of electricity. ~~Adz:Right~~
“The power is not just going…it’s fluctuating and surging. I have lost electrical appliances before and no one compensated me. At the rate this electricity is jumping on and off, I am bound to lose more.”
While Martin said load shedding had come to an end in St. Kitts, he asked customers to be patient with the Electricity Department because “at certain times technical difficulties beyond our control may cause the loss of power to certain feeders”.
Business owners in downtown Basseterre found little consolation in this plea, however, as they were brought to their knees by these “technical difficulties” from 9 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. with another brief outage not long after.
In spite of the numerous outages that have plagued St. Kitts in recent months, Martin called the generators at the power station “reliable”.
“Just as everything that is manmade and is operated by man has mechanical problems, there will be difficulties. All we can do is treat the problems as they arise and treat them aggressively. That is what the ministry has sought to do over the last couple months.”
