blackouts

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.

For nearly an hour, some of the country’s top electricity officials stood before the nation trying to explain why Bahamians continue to endure recurring blackouts despite repeated assurances that the country was “summer ready.”

The message from Bahamas Power and Light (BPL) and Bahamas Grid Company was familiar while some are fairly new: The grid is complex, the weather is hotter, unexpected failures happen, no electrical system can be 100 percent reliable, consumers should reduce electricity use during peak hours and electric vehicle chargers should be reported.

But the public’s response revealed a growing crisis of confidence.

Across social media, frustration quickly drowned out the explanations.

“They always looking for someone to blame. They just need to get it right,” one Bahamian wrote.

Another dismissed the explanations entirely.

“Excuses for their lack of upgrade to their system.”

When officials suggested that residents should report electric vehicle chargers because of the additional load they place on the grid, another response reflected the skepticism many consumers now feel.

“The suggestion that EV chargers ought to be reported is absurd. Most houses that utilize an EV charger find that consumption entirely fits within their amperage service.”

Whether every criticism is technically accurate is almost beside the point. The bigger story is that many Bahamians no longer trust what they are hearing.

That is a dangerous place for any public utility to find itself.

For months, Bahamians have listened to announcements about modernization, infrastructure upgrades and preparations for the summer peak season.

Then came repeated outages, island-wide blackouts, and rotational load shedding in the middle of summer.

Neighbourhoods spending hours without electricity and public sleeping in a puddle of sweat.

By the time executives held Tuesday’s press conference, many consumers were no longer listening to the explanations.

When families are sleeping without air conditioning, businesses are throwing away spoiled inventory and workers are struggling to stay productive, asking the public to use less electricity can sound more like another burden than a solution.

The electricity system is genuinely complicated, and consumers deserve honest information about generation, substations, feeders and distribution.

But communication only works when it is matched by visible progress. Without that, every explanation risks sounding like another excuse.

Bahamians understand that no electrical system is perfect but what many appear unwilling to accept is a cycle of recurring outages followed by another round of explanations.

The challenge facing BPL and Bahamas Grid Company is bigger than repairing transformers or replacing feeders, but rebuilding trust.

Many Bahamians have reached the point where they believe the explanations have become more reliable than the electricity itself.

After another island-wide blackout plunged New Providence into darkness, Prime Minister Philip Davis, flanked by Bahamas Power and Light (BPL) executives, toured the Blue Hills Power Station, viewed the damaged equipment and assured Bahamians that his government remains committed to fixing the country’s aging electricity system.

His message was familiar: The system is old, the government inherited an “archaic” power plant, transformation is underway and Bahamians must be patient.

Few would dispute that BPL’s infrastructure has suffered from decades of underinvestment and neglect. Replacing aging transformers, upgrading the transmission grid and modernizing generation cannot happen overnight.

But after another nationwide blackout—and after weeks of repeated outages across New Providence—the public has lost confidence that meaningful improvements are actually arriving.

Just weeks ago, Energy Minister JoBeth Coleby-Davis assured Parliament that BPL had sufficient generating capacity to meet peak summer demand. Bahamians were told the utility was prepared.

Instead, the country has experienced one of its most difficult summers for electricity in recent memory, with frequent outages, rotational load shedding, and now island-wide blackouts triggered by what authorities say is an explosion at Blue Hills Power Station.

The contrast between the promise and the public experience is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore.

Prime Minister Davis says the government inherited a broken system from the previous administration. That political argument may resonate with some supporters, and there is evidence that today’s challenges did not begin in 2017 either.

What improvements have been made to BPL since attaining office in 2021?

After winning a second term in office, many consumers are asking whether the conversation should begin shifting from who created the problem to how quickly it is being solved.

Photographs inside a power plant will not restore public confidence.

It is restored when families can sleep comfortably through the night without another outage, when businesses stop losing thousands of dollars in spoiled inventory and when parents no longer worry whether the electricity remain on during this heatwave.

A tour shows the public concern, but it does not restore electricity. An apology acknowledges frustration, but it does not keep the grid online.

Are the lights staying on? That is the measure by which every announcement, every tour and every promise will ultimately be judged.

The public does not want to see another transformer, but results.