A sudden, unplanned power outage cut electricity service to thousands of customers across multiple regions of Dominica earlier on Wednesday, prompting swift mobilization of repair crews from the island’s main utility provider to bring service back online.
In an official public statement issued shortly after the outage began, Dominica Electricity Services Ltd. (DOMLEC) confirmed that power has started flowing back to customers in the capital city of Roseau, with surrounding communities set to regain connections step-by-step as repair work progresses across affected infrastructure.
Initially, the disruption was linked to an unexpected trip at the island’s geothermal power plant, but follow-up technical investigations have adjusted that initial finding. The utility clarified Wednesday that the geothermal facility was not the root cause of the full outage.
“After further investigations, it was determined that the cause of the outage did not originate from the geothermal plant, but rather a fault on DOMLEC’s Lower Goodwill Feeder,” the company confirmed in its updated statement.
DOMLEC’s explanation outlines a chain reaction that led to the widespread blackout: the fault on the Lower Goodwill Feeder triggered the initial disruption, which then caused the geothermal plant to trip offline. That secondary trip expanded the scope of the outage, pushing the interruption far beyond the initial affected area and leaving far more customers without power than the original feeder fault would have impacted.
As technical crews continue to assess and repair the damaged infrastructure, the utility is bringing power back in controlled, incremental phases to avoid further strain on the grid. Restoration work started in Roseau and will expand outward to adjacent communities as sections of the network are confirmed safe to reactivate.
“We continue efforts to restore power to all affected customers and thank you for your patience and understanding,” the company’s statement added. DOMLEC also issued a formal apology to customers for the inconvenience caused by the unplanned service interruption.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the utility had not released a formal timeline for when full power restoration would be completed across all affected areas. However, DOMLEC emphasized that all available teams remain focused on reconnecting every affected customer as quickly as work can be completed safely, with no compromises on public or infrastructure safety to speed up the process.