Over the weekend, communities across two major Bahamian islands — Abaco and New Providence — were thrown into chaos by a series of prolonged, repeated power outages that upended daily life, shuttered local businesses, and reignited long-simmering public anger over the inconsistent service provided by Bahamas Power and Light (BPL).
For Abaco residents, the latest wave of disruptions began as early as midweek, with one outage stretching to an 18-hour stretch of darkness. Across the country’s most populous island, New Providence, intermittent power cuts continued from Friday through the end of the weekend, with BPL attributing the issues to a perfect storm of natural and infrastructure failures: lightning strikes, damaged high-voltage cables, faulty transformers, degraded equipment, and crippling strain on the grid from excessive energy demand.
Chantelle Sands, president of the Abaco Chamber of Commerce, described Thursday as one of the most devastating days for local commerce, with extended blackouts halting normal operations across the island. “Businesses that do not have backup generators are at an even greater disadvantage,” she explained. “When power fails, many are forced to close entirely, lose critical daily sales, and face the risk of losing entire inventories of refrigerated and frozen goods. Reliable power is not a luxury — it is a foundational requirement for keeping businesses open, protecting jobs, and sustaining the country’s economic momentum.”
BPL officials have confirmed a string of separate failures across Abaco between Wednesday and Saturday. The issues started Wednesday with a sudden power surge at the Marsh Harbour Power Station that cut service to Murphy Town, Dundas Town and Forest Drive, which was restored shortly after. That same day, repairs to a damaged high-voltage cable in South Scotland Cay caused a second temporary outage for local residents.
The most serious breakdown hit the Wilson City Power Station just after 1 p.m. Thursday, when one of the facility’s primary generating units unexpectedly tripped offline, cutting power to all of Central and South Abaco as well as the surrounding cays. According to Marvin Green, BPL’s Northern Regional Manager, this type of failure would typically take between 45 minutes and 90 minutes to resolve, but unforeseen additional complications dramatically slowed restoration efforts.
Technicians eventually managed to restart the generating unit, but power only remained active for roughly 20 minutes before a second failure forced the entire station offline. Green explained that much of the repair work focused on the plant’s critical uninterruptible power supply system, which supports the station’s automated operations. After crews resolved that issue and restarted the engine, the station’s main transformer tripped, triggering yet another full blackout.
Additional outages continued to plague Central and South Abaco and Guana Cay on Friday and Saturday, each tied to separate new infrastructure issues. For residents and business owners, these repeated disruptions are not an unexpected one-off event — they are the latest chapter in a years-long crisis that has raised daily stress and added unplanned costs across the islands.
Sands shared one particularly striking example of the chaos: a local business that had its generator transfer switch damaged by BPL technicians, leaving the company completely without power even when it had planned for backup. While many business owners have invested thousands in private generators to keep operations running, Sands noted that the recurring costs of fuel and maintenance eat into already razor-thin profit margins for local companies.
To address the long-term crisis, Sands is calling on local businesses to invest in solar energy infrastructure where feasible, and is urging the Bahamian government to eliminate import duties and value-added tax on renewable energy systems. She argued that lower upfront costs for renewable systems would encourage more widespread adoption, reduce strain on BPL’s overburdened grid, and strengthen the country’s overall energy security.
Abaco resident Roscoe Thompson, who endured one 18-hour outage, said the problem has persisted since Hurricane Dorian hit the islands, and successive political administrations have failed to deliver on promises to fix the grid. “This isn’t an issue that just popped up out of nowhere,” he said. “Every new administration promises things will change, but when summer rolls around with higher demand, we end up right back where we were last year.” He added that the outages hurt not just local residents, but also the country’s critical tourism industry: without power, credit card machines do not work, and businesses cannot open at all for visitors.
Another Abaco resident, Danny Sawyer, recalled an outage that started between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. one day last week, with power restored to some neighborhoods by 3 a.m. the next day, while others waited until 7 a.m. or 8 a.m. to get service back. Outage lengths vary wildly, he said, ranging from two or three hours to more than six, and any severe thunderstorm with lightning typically prompts BPL to shut down power stations as a safety precaution. For residents without backup power, extended outages in the Bahamian heat become unbearable — Sawyer recalled one friend who was forced to sleep in his car to escape the high temperatures. Even for those who have portable generators, the cost is prohibitive, he said, with gasoline selling for roughly $8 per gallon.
On New Providence, residents also faced days of repeated, intermittent outages, with BPL confirming that lightning strikes, cable faults, damaged transformers, broken equipment, and high demand affected communities across the island. Crews worked around the clock to complete repairs and gradually restore service, but frustrated residents took to social media to vent about the frequency and duration of the cuts. One Facebook user reported going seven hours and counting without power by Sunday, while another complained that power had fluctuated on and off five times, putting household appliances at risk of permanent damage from irregular voltage.
Eastern New Providence was among the hardest hit areas over the weekend. Rosemary Sands, a resident of Joe Farrington Road, said her power was cut from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday, following a shorter outage the day before. “We are annoyed but we’re used to this thing now,” she said. “It feels like we’re living in a third world country, dealing with these constant outages.” Still, she added that she believes BPL crews are doing the best they can with aging infrastructure.
For small service businesses that rely entirely on electricity to operate, the outages create persistent financial and operational strain. Shanice Carey, owner of True Beauty Salon in New Providence, explained that every service her business offers depends on power — from hood dryers and heated styling tools to hot water and air conditioning. When power goes out, all work stops, pre-scheduled appointments have to be rescheduled, and sensitive salon equipment is put at risk of damage. “Frequent power outages disrupt client schedules, strain our equipment, and create significant unexpected operational costs,” Carey said. “While we do everything possible to adapt and minimize the impact on our clients’ experience, persistent outages place a heavy burden on our salon when trying to provide quality, efficient service.”
