Between August 14 and 15, thousands of customers across Dominica were left without power in a series of widespread, sometimes day-long outages that disrupted daily life across the island. Now, Dominica Electricity Services Ltd. (DOMLEC) has issued a formal apology for the disruptions, while acknowledging multiple unplanned events that knocked the island’s grid offline and outlining steps to improve future response efforts.
In an official media statement released by the company, Acting General Manager Ellise Darwton took accountability for gaps in the utility’s response, noting that the company is actively reviewing protocols to prevent similar prolonged disruptions going forward. “We fully recognize how disruptive and challenging it is to go hours without power, especially when outages stretch overnight and into the next business day,” Darwton said in the statement. “Electricity is the backbone of daily life for our customers – it powers homes, keeps businesses running, preserves food for households, enables critical communication, and supports so many other essential activities. We sincerely apologize for every moment of disruption and frustration this event caused our community.”
According to DOMLEC’s incident breakdown, four separate major outages struck the island’s electrical grid within a 24-hour window. Two of the outages, first at 4:29 a.m. and a second at 1:09 p.m. on Friday, were triggered when the island’s geothermal generation plant disconnected unexpectedly from the main grid. Crews restored service for the first outage by 7:30 a.m. the same day, but severe weather and overgrown vegetation along transmission lines slowed restoration work for the second outage. Later that night, at 10:30 p.m., a falling tree damaged high-tension transmission lines in the Fond Canie area, triggering a third outage. A fourth event knocked out service to communities on the East Coast and Laudat around 4 a.m. Saturday. By 2 p.m. that same day, restoration crews had brought power back online to nearly all affected areas across the island.
Beyond reviewing response protocols, Darwton confirmed that DOMLEC is re-evaluating how it disseminates information to customers during extended outages, including exploring more low-tech, community-focused outreach strategies to reach residents who lack access to internet or battery-powered electronic devices when the power goes out. “We know how critical timely updates are for our customers when service is out for hours,” Darwton explained. “While we pushed out regular updates through national radio and social media during this event, we are conducting a full review of our communication strategy for major grid incidents. We are actively identifying additional, more community-centered methods to reach customers who cannot access electronic devices or internet service when their power is cut.”
Daryl Dalrymple, DOMLEC’s Engineering, Transmission and Distribution Manager, framed the series of outages as a growing pain tied to the broader transformation of Dominica’s electricity sector, which is currently in the process of scaling up geothermal energy generation. “Dominica’s electricity sector is going through a major transition right now,” Dalrymple said. “We are operating with the infrastructure we have in place today, while we work to complete the full geothermal development project and all the associated grid upgrades that come with it.”
Dalrymple added that geothermal development is currently in the first of three planned phases, with DOMLEC working simultaneously to optimize new generation capacity and resolve ongoing technical kinks in the integrated grid system. He also praised line crews and response staff who worked through harsh weather conditions to restore service, emphasizing that worker safety remains the company’s top priority throughout all restoration efforts.
In closing, the DOMLEC statement thanked customers for their patience and understanding throughout the disruptions, reaffirming the company’s commitment to addressing the gaps and challenges exposed by the event. “DOMLEC remains committed to addressing every challenge we have identified during this incident, completing our ongoing system upgrades, and building a more robust, reliable electricity network that will deliver long-term benefits for all of Dominica and its people,” the statement concluded.