For most Bahamians, Tuesday was the first time they had ever seen Dareo McKenzie.
Three months into his tenure as chief executive officer of Bahamas Grid Company (BGC), he stepped before the national media as the country grappled with repeated blackouts, growing public frustration and questions about the reliability of the electricity system.
It was an opportunity to introduce himself, inspire confidence and explain how BGC intends to improve the country’s ageing grid.
Instead, many people left talking about beaches and electric vehicle chargers.
As New Providence endured sweltering temperatures and recurring outages, McKenzie appealed to residents to reduce electricity consumption during peak hours.
“We have a very beautiful island,” he said.
“Constant breeze. Sometimes it may not be a bad thing. I know I do it. I go out and I sit on the beach and enjoy what this beautiful island has to offer.”
He also urged consumers to report major new electrical loads, including electric vehicle chargers, warning that unreported connections place additional strain on the grid.
From an engineering perspective, encouraging energy conservation during peak demand is standard practice around the world. Utilities routinely ask consumers to shift heavy electricity use away from peak periods to help stabilize the network.
The problem was not necessarily the advice, but perhaps the timing.
Many Bahamians had spent days without reliable electricity. Some had slept in uncomfortable homes, thrown away spoiled food or watched businesses struggle through repeated outages during high temperatures.
Against that backdrop, telling residents to enjoy the beach and reduce their own electricity use was always likely to be received as tone-deaf.
The public conversation quickly shifted away from McKenzie’s technical message and toward what many perceived as a failure to appreciate the scale of public frustration.
His comments about electric vehicle chargers generated similar skepticism.
Some questioned whether EVs represent a significant enough share of electricity demand to justify being highlighted at a moment when the public wanted answers about ageing infrastructure, transformers, substations and feeder failures.
Fairly or unfairly, the impression left was that consumers were once again being asked to shoulder part of the responsibility for a system they believe has failed them.
That is an unfortunate start for a chief executive who is, in many ways, beginning with a clean slate.
McKenzie assumed leadership after Bahamas Grid Company transitioned to a fully Bahamian-led operating model following the departure of Island Grid’s management team earlier this year.
He inherited not only the responsibility of operating the country’s transmission and distribution network, but also the challenge of rebuilding public confidence in an electricity system that has become synonymous with disruption.
That confidence will not be rebuilt through technical explanations alone, but through communication that meets people where they are.
These are moments of national frustration, and his leadership is being judged as much by empathy as by expertise.
Bahamians wanted to hear how outages would become less frequent, how long repairs would take and what measurable improvements they should expect.
Instead, much of the public conversation focused on beaches and EV chargers.
First impressions are important.