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FRIDAY, AUGUST 22, 2025
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BPL to give 50% off rate for Family Island outages t DVU GPS &MFVUIFSB -POH *TMBOE $BU *TMBOE BAHAMAS Power and Light (BPL) will give a 50 percent rebate on the base t .PWF DPNFT BGUFS rate to residents in Eleuthera, Long Island, and Cat Island SFQFBUFE PVUBHFT in the next billing cycle, as
BAHAMAS POWER AND LIGHT (BPL) HEADQUARTERS
By FAY SIMMONS Tribune Business Reporter jsimmons@tribunemedia.net
compensation for repeated power outages experienced this summer. BPL’s CEO Toni Seymour made the announcement during the Office of the Prime Minister’s weekly press briefing, stating that the utility is “working diligently” to stabilise power generation across the Family Islands. “I would like to apologise once again to all of our Family Island customers who have been experiencing extended out due to power disruptions, generation shortfalls or whatever the case may be, and to advise that we have we are offering a 50 percent
rebate on the base rate for the next billing cycle to the residents of Eleuthera, Long Island and Cat Island,” said Ms Seymour. She added that BPL allocated $30m for upgrades across the Family Islands in preparation for the peak summer demand, though she noted the funding is only part of the broader investment required. “We had put a budget in place for what it would have cost us to get the Family Islands prepared for summer
— that was around $30m, roughly,” she said. “And that’s not all of the upgrades that would be required to get it to the level of service that we would want it to be at.” On Cat Island, residents are currently experiencing fourhour load shedding intervals, but BPL teams are actively working to address the shortfall with both repairs and new generation capacity. “We have teams on the ground who are currently working to install a brandnew unit in the power station
Residents unhappy with BPL despite rebate By ANNELIA NIXON Tribune Business Reporter anixon@tribunemedia.net TONI SEYMOUR
they will do it is if they were allowed to do the direct billing. In other words, they do not trust BPL. That’s the bottom line. Don’t worry about the dressing up and all that stuff. We’ve had enough of this nonsense going on here in Eleuthera - long enough and it’s got to end. Somebody has got to come to their senses somewhere, somehow, and give this area some kind of darn priority, because what is going on here, it’s utter nonsense. Nothing more, nothing less.
A 50 percent rebate on the base rate for the next billing cycle offered to residents of several Family Islands experiencing power woes isn’t satisfactory, according to some. With power woes hitting multiple Family Islands, Bahamas Power and Light (BPL) announced yesterday that a 50 percent rebate on the base rate would be provided to residents of Long Island, Cat Island and Eleuthera for the next billing cycle. While some residents have expressed appreciation for the gesture, they are still not pleased with the state of service BPL provides and some have argued that the rebate isn’t sufficient. “If those people feel that giving us a discount on a one-month or whatever electricity bill, they better think again,” Annette Young, who resides in Eleuthera, said. “It’s absolutely ridiculous. They have no clue of the position we are in here. Every day somewhere on this damn island is out of power. Those people down south are suffering. No power in the morning, no power at night, the clinics, the schools, everybody is out of power at any time, any day. And for them to think that giving us a rebate...Yeah, sure, fine and dandy, some people will really be happy with that, because they could use the funding towards the appliances that have been all burnt to hell. “I can’t even consider the rebate as a happy means to anything. What is it that they’re doing? They’re just giving us pennies on a bill? For what? Yeah, fine and dandy. It’s a great gesture. But for what, if they’re not going to give a better gesture in terms of getting the damn equipment updated. Wouldn’t it be better to keep the bills low until you can get the generators in here?”
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at Cat Island. So initially, we had a failure on one of the units. Cat Island Power Station has four engines installed- we had a failure on one of the units, and about a week later we had a failure on a second unit, which has now reduced us to only two units available at the power station,” said Ms Seymour.
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‘Use St George’s Cay to solve Eleuthera power’ By ANNELIA NIXON Tribune Business Reporter anixon@tribunemedia.net AN ELEUTHERA resident questioned what “conditions” BPL would agree to in order for St George’s Cay Power Company (SGCPC) to act as a temporary solution to electricity woes. When asked if they had contemplated allowing SGCPC, the energy provider for Spanish Wells, Russell Island, West End Cay, Charles Cay and Royal Island to provide generation to parts of Eleuthera, Toni Seymour,
BPL’s chief operating officer, yesterday said they hadn’t considered it. She added: “That would have to be some discussions between BPL, St George’s Cay Power, URCA and the government of The Bahamas. Leatendore Percentie, an Eleutheran frustrated with the state of electricity on Eleuthera and Harbour Island and a supporter of SGCPC, argued that when plans were being made years ago for SGCPC to be involved in power generation in other parts of Eleuthera, BPL was the challenge that thwarted the scheme. He said at the
Dredging for Clifton LNG terminal starts this month By FAY SIMMONS Tribune Business Reporter jsimmons@tribunemedia.net THE government will begin dredging works for the country’s first liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal at Clifton Pier before the end of the month, Energy and Transport Minister JoBeth Coleby-Davis confirmed yesterday. Speaking at the Office of the Prime Minister’s weekly press briefing, Mrs ColebyDavis said The Bahamas is transitioning away from its “old, unreliable” energy system to a cleaner, more affordable energy grid—and work is already
JOBETH COLEBY-DAVIS underway to integrate solar and LNG into the energy mix for New Providence. “Work has already started on utility scale, solar at Blue Hills power station,
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Data protection law to ‘modernise’ privacy By FAY SIMMONS Tribune Business Reporter jsimmons@tribunemedia.net PUBLIC consultation has been launched for the draft Data Protection Bill, which is intended to replace the existing Data Protection (Privacy of Personal Information) Act, 2003 The Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (ODPC) said yesterday the new draft law will bring the country in line with international best practices and address gaps exposed by
the fast-changing technological landscape. “That Act, which was largely based on the OECD Guidelines of 1980, provided an important foundation for protecting personal information across the public and private sectors. However, over the past two decades, the rapid evolution of technology, the emergence of new categories of data, and the increasing risks to personal privacy have made it clear that a comprehensive
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meetings he attended, it was explained it was a matter of who would conduct the billing process. “Number one, they’re [SGCPC] willing,” Mr Percentie added. “Number two, they have the capacity. And number three, the obstacle was that the government of The Bahamas, BPL, they do not want St George’s Power to directly bill. That is the obstacle. “In the meetings that we were there for us to go out and promote the idea of St George’s Power coming here, that was what they had told us - that the only way that