标签： Bahamas

A days-long electricity outage that has paralyzed key sections of downtown Nassau in The Bahamas has triggered a cascade of disruptions, culminating in the full shutdown of the country’s public broadcasting service and widespread economic harm for local businesses, as state utility Bahamas Power and Light (BPL) continues to grapple with an elusive underground cable fault.

The outage first took hold across downtown, Shirley Street, East Hill Street and Fort Charlotte starting Wednesday, cutting off grid power to the Broadcasting Corporation of The Bahamas, which operates the national ZNS Network. For more than 48 hours, the public broadcaster relied on backup generator power to keep its radio and television services on air. Grid power was briefly restored to the area Thursday evening, but failed again early Friday.

Moments after the second blackout hit, staff detected dangerous fumes spreading through the broadcaster’s downtown building. A preliminary inspection traced the issue to an overheated backup generator that had burst a pipe, releasing toxic fumes into the structure. Local fire services ordered an immediate full evacuation of all personnel, warning that the air quality remained unsafe for re-entry. With all operations halted, ZNS Network was forced completely off air.

In an official statement Friday, the Broadcasting Corporation emphasized that “the safety and well-being of our employees remain our highest priority.” The organization issued a public apology to all listeners and viewers, adding that it would continue monitoring site conditions to resume operations as soon as safely possible.

While the broadcasting shutdown marked the most visible disruption of the outage, BPL’s ongoing repair efforts have faced repeated setbacks that have extended the blackout far past initial estimates. Utility technicians have been working to pinpoint the exact location of the underground cable fault originating at BPL’s East Hill Street substation, a facility that powers the vast majority of downtown Nassau.

BPL had originally planned a staggered power rotation for Friday: the utility intended to cut power to Fort Charlotte starting at 8 a.m. to redirect capacity to downtown and Shirley Street, allowing those areas to come back online. But by 5:17 p.m. Friday, BPL announced that extensive repairs were still in progress, and the projected restoration timeline had been missed. To prevent dangerous overloading of the existing compromised circuit, Fort Charlotte will remain without power while technicians continue to monitor grid demand.

Complicating repair efforts further, when BPL attempted to route alternative power supply through its Arawak Cay substation to bypass the damaged cable, crews discovered an additional unplanned equipment failure that has further delayed full restoration.

For the downtown commercial and tourism district of New Providence, the multi-day outage has already caused severe disruption. Multiple businesses have been forced to close entirely or operate without reliable lighting, while scores of tourists have complained about sweltering indoor temperatures, with some even cutting their visits to the area short. Local business owners have reported substantial lost sales, widespread disruptions to electronic card payment processing, tons of spoiled refrigerated and frozen food, and permanent damage to overworked backup generators that ran continuously through the initial blackout.

The latest prolonged outage has amplified already growing public and industry concern over the reliability of New Providence’s entire electricity network. The island has faced repeated, widespread outages and planned rolling load shedding throughout this summer, with BPL attributing the string of disruptions to a range of issues including aging infrastructure failures, overloaded transformers, tripped feeders and breakers, damaged transmission lines, and record high temperatures that have spiked residential and commercial electricity demand.

The Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers’ Confederation has joined the growing chorus of concern, releasing a statement noting that the ongoing downtown outage is placing unprecedented financial and operational strain on already vulnerable local businesses.

After nearly 20 years of legal uncertainty and relentless community advocacy, 35 long-time residents of Bozine Town officially received property deeds to their land on Wednesday, closing a chapter of fear and uncertainty that disrupted generations of families who built their homes on the contested ground. For many of the beneficiaries, the historic milestone came too late for the loved ones who led the early fight for ownership and spent years organizing resistance before their deaths.

The root of the decades-long dispute stretches back to a 2004 court ruling that upended decades of assumed ownership for Bozine Town residents. The ruling validated a ownership claim from Harold Road Land Development Company (LANDCO), which ordered hundreds of families to vacate their properties within 14 days or face immediate eviction proceedings. Overnight, households that had lived on and developed the land for generations suddenly found their most valuable asset at risk of seizure.

Seventy-six-year-old Ellen Daniels, one of the residents who received her deed at Wednesday’s official ceremony, described the moment as surreal after so many years of disappointment. Daniels’ husband, who spent years organizing fellow residents and fundraising for legal costs, died before he could see the dispute resolved. “Just trying to digest it,” Daniels said, holding the official document that confirmed her ownership. “You got it in your hand but you’re trying to say to yourself, ‘Is it really happening? Is it true?’ Because you know it’s here, but you’re still asking yourself these questions. I’m just so excited because you always wonder if it’s going to really happen after so many disappointments.”

By Daniels’ estimate, roughly 75 percent of the original Bozine Town residents abandoned their properties and relocated after the 2004 ruling, worn down by the constant threat of displacement. The remaining residents banded together, staging public protests, pooling whatever funds they could spare to cover legal fees, and holding community fundraisers to sustain their multi-year legal battle. Even as they continued to maintain their homes and properties through the uncertainty, residents were unable to access the full rights of legal ownership, such as refinancing or passing land to heirs through formal title.

Multiple consecutive national administrations prioritized resolving the dispute after it emerged in 2004. Housing Minister Keith Bell explained that the former Christie administration first intervened in 2005, issuing a formal guarantee that no residents would be forcibly displaced from their homes. In 2012, the Ingraham government finalized a land swap agreement, trading 34 acres of the contested Bozine Town holding for Crown Land located in Abaco, setting the framework to eventually transfer individual plots to resident ownership. The subsequent Minnis administration continued advancing the process, and the current Davis administration finalized the legal steps to issue individual deeds earlier this year.

“We cannot talk seriously about home ownership without dealing with ownership of the land beneath the home,” Bell told attendees at Wednesday’s ceremony. “We cannot talk about generational wealth if one generation cannot securely pass property to the next.” Bell framed the resolution of the Bozine Town dispute as a key early milestone of the Davis administration’s broader national land reform agenda.

For 89-year-old Adline Burrows, the deed fulfills a dream her late husband spent decades pursuing after he built the family home decades ago while she resided in Cat Island. Her daughter, 54-year-old Adline Burrows-Mott, who grew up in the home, recalled the constant anxiety that followed the 2004 ruling. “It was very frustrating, very frustrating in that time,” Burrows-Mott said. “My dad, everybody was fighting, trying to get the property sorted and all of that. But thank God we got it through today.” She also recalled the community’s early years, before basic infrastructure was installed, when residents carried water uphill to their homes.

Sixty-two-year-old Eleanor Patricia Archerdean, who has lived in her family’s Bozine Town home for more than 55 years, inherited the fight from her parents, who passed the property to her in their will before their deaths. “When they pass on and my parents always leave will to me, so I was able to, you know, get in the fight and continue to push for getting this done,” she said.

Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis told ceremony attendees that the resolution of the dispute underscored the urgent need for national land reform, adding that decades of uncertainty had finally been replaced with long-term security. “For years, you’ve lived with uncertainty over land that has been your home. You built your houses here, you built relationships here, and you raised your families here, and you watched generations grow up here,” Davis said. He noted that while multiple prior governments worked to address the issue, the current administration had finally crossed the finish line to deliver title to residents.

Garden Hills MP Mario Bowleg emphasized that the milestone also honors the many residents who fought for ownership but died before they could receive their deeds. “We remember them today with great respect and gratitude. Their hopes, sacrifices, dreams were a part of the journey that brought us here today,” Bowleg said. “Today, that long-awaited day has arrived.”

A multi-day power outage that stretched from Wednesday into Thursday delivered a sharp blow to Nassau’s key tourism sector, forcing dozens of downtown businesses to close or operate under strained conditions, cutting short tourist visits and causing thousands of dollars in lost revenue for local vendors. The outage impacted heavily trafficked areas including Shirley Street and East Street Hill, a core hub for cruise ship passengers coming ashore to shop and dine. Bahamas Power and Light (BPL), the territory’s main electricity provider, announced that technicians first detected the fault via routine monitoring, but uncovered an unexpected secondary equipment failure while attempting to reroute power through the Arawak Cay substation. Restoration work got underway shortly after noon Thursday, with an initial estimate of five to six hours needed to fully restore service. BPL later updated the public on ongoing progress and issued a formal apology for the widespread disruption. But on the ground, the impacts were felt almost immediately, with visitors and business owners alike grappling with sweltering summer temperatures amid lost air conditioning. A Tribune reporter on site observed tourists browsing dimly lit retail stores, many visibly perspiring in the heat, while retail staff relied on small portable fans to stay cool. For businesses without backup generators, processing card payments became nearly impossible, turning away countless potential sales. Amado, a Royal Caribbean cruise passenger from Florida who has visited The Bahamas roughly five times previously, said the oppressive heat and lost power pushed him to cut his shore excursion short and return to his ship earlier than planned. “We don’t want to explore so much,” he explained. “It’s so hot, you know, uncomfortable.” He added that he had never encountered such widespread service disruptions during past trips, arguing that infrastructure should be reliable enough to accommodate the constant stream of tourists arriving via cruise ships. “There has to be some kind of decency,” he said. “There’s so many tourists over here, all these cruise ships. You should think that you know there will be resources for this.” Jay, another cruise passenger from Michigan, said she was less personally inconvenienced by the outage, but expressed sympathy for local residents who have dealt with repeated power failures across the island. “You guys work hard and deserve it,” she said. Many visitors echoed the frustration, noting the outage directly impacted how much they were willing to spend during their time ashore. One tourist said she wished her cruise line had been aware of the blackout and warned her family before they disembarked. “It’s disappointing because it’s hot and it was already hot getting off the ship,” she said. “We were thinking we were going to be shopping in the cool so it was a big disappointment.” For local business owners, the disruption translated directly to tangible financial losses. At Luryx, a downtown retail store, assistant manager Colebrooke estimated the outage cost the business roughly $5,000 in lost sales. Like many other small vendors in the area, Luryx does not have a backup generator, and only stayed open because a personal power bank kept the store’s wireless credit card terminal operational. “The only thing I would say to BPL is these are modern times and we shouldn’t be living like this,” Colebrooke said. “Our business should not be operating like this.” She emphasized that the damage extends beyond one day of lost sales, noting that the outages leave a negative impression on the thousands of tourists that pass through downtown Nassau daily when cruise ships are in port. “We have cruise ships in the port every day even if it’s just one so could you imagine the impact it is having,” she said. “The tourists are going to talk about it because they’re coming in here asking us what happened.” Employees at local souvenir shops echoed the complaint, noting that lost card access cost them significant commission income, as most tourists do not carry large amounts of cash. “The only way we can only take funds if it’s cash,” one employee said. “It’s a big problem because you know most tourists come with their card. They cost us a lot of money this morning because they have a lot of ships out there that brings us our income.” Some businesses that chose to close early faced additional unexpected costs, with some reporting paying more than $100 to have staff come in to lower security shutters for the day. Multiple businesses also reported damage to their private backup generators during the outage, adding to repair costs. The Taj Mahal Indian Restaurant was one of the establishments forced to close entirely, and staff had to discard all perishable food items to prevent spoilage in the heat. The outage is the latest in a string of service failures for BPL this summer, a period marked by repeated blackouts, scheduled load shedding, and growing anger from both residents and business owners over inconsistent service. BPL has defended its performance, attributing the recent spate of outages to a combination of system-wide faults and excessive demand driven by record high temperatures, including cable failures, overloaded transformers, tripped breakers and feeders, damaged power lines, and higher than usual electricity consumption across the grid.

Nearly a decade after a 2016 police shooting left a 22-year-old man permanently paralyzed, a Bahamian court has approved an $80,000 emergency interim payment to cover urgent life-saving medical care he requires as his final damages claim remains pending.

Thorne Clarke, now a working professional whose mobility has been impaired from the sternum down following the shooting, recently developed a life-threatening stage four pressure ulcer on his right buttock that has become infected, requiring immediate surgical intervention. The emergency payment, ordered by Justice Camille Darville Gomez, comes after Clarke’s legal team argued he could not cover the mounting out-of-pocket medical costs on his own.

The conflicting accounts of the 2016 incident have never been fully resolved. Police maintained at the time that officers responded to a report of a suspicious individual, surrounded Clarke’s Nissan vehicle after he attempted to drive away, and opened fire only when Clarke tried to knock down an officer who feared for his life. Clarke has repeatedly disputed this narrative: he claims he complied with initial orders to stop, only began moving after receiving no explanation for the police stop, and had traveled less than 10 feet when officers opened fire. He also denies attempting to harm any officer, and alleges that after shooting him, police dragged him from his crashed vehicle (which hit a wall after he lost control of his legs following the injury), handcuffed him, and assaulted him while he was incapacitated. Police have stood by their original account of the shooting.

Clarke launched his civil lawsuit against the Commissioner of Police and the Attorney General in May 2018, and a default judgment was entered against the defense in September 2019 after they failed to enter a plea. The remaining dispute centers entirely on the total amount of damages Clarke should receive: he is seeking $2.064 million in compensation, while the defense values the claim at just over $539,000, including more than $348,000 for pain and suffering linked to his permanent paraplegia, loss of bladder and bowel function, and loss of sexual sensation. A damages assessment hearing concluded in May 2025 before Assistant Registrar Jonathan Deal, but a final ruling has not yet been issued.

In the months leading up to the interim payment application, Clarke’s health declined sharply. The pressure ulcer, a common and dangerous complication for people with long-term paraplegia, grew to 6 centimeters by 4 centimeters and became infected in late April, triggering a high fever and impaired speech that required a nine-day admission to Princess Margaret Hospital. Treating physician Dr. Vernard McPhee, who is caring for Clarke at the New Hope Medical Center for Advanced Wound Care, recommended urgent surgery to close the wound, eliminate a MRSA infection, and reduce the risk of life-threatening further complications. The procedure involves vacuum-assisted wound closure, debridement, suturing, and potentially reconstructive gluteal flap surgery, with an estimated cost of $57,488.32. Clarke already carries an outstanding $11,358.89 medical bill from prior treatment of the bedsore, and has paid all costs out of pocket to date, struggling to cover recurring expenses for medical equipment, care labor, and medication.

To accommodate his condition, Clarke now leaves work daily at 2 p.m., since prolonged sitting increases his infection risk. He told the court the uncertainty around his medical care has left him struggling with anxiety about losing his job, recurring infection, and repeated hospitalizations. His legal team initially requested $200,000 in interim funds, later reducing the request to $100,000 during a second court hearing.

The defense opposed the application, arguing that with the damages assessment already complete and a ruling pending, an interim payment would create a risk of overpayment that could not be recovered later, and amounted to procedural overreach. Justice Darville Gomez rejected this argument, noting that Bahamian Civil Procedure Rules explicitly allow interim payment applications “at any time” regardless of whether the damages assessment process has concluded.

At the same time, the judge acknowledged the need for caution to avoid overpayment and an unnecessary second assessment of damages. Using the defense’s own $539,250.03 valuation as a conservative baseline for the final award, the judge found that $80,000 – equivalent to roughly 14% of the defense’s proposed total, compared to the 18% that $100,000 would represent – struck the appropriate balance. This amount covers the projected surgical cost and outstanding bills, while creating a buffer against the risk of overpayment that the defense highlighted. The judge also noted that the initial surgical cost estimate could rise if additional treatment is needed, so the payment does not need to match the estimate exactly.

“I am therefore satisfied that $80,000.00 is no more than a reasonable proportion of the likely final judgment,” the justice wrote in her ruling, “and that it is just to exercise the discretion in the Claimant’s favour.” The $80,000 will be deducted from Clarke’s final damage award, and the defense has also been ordered to cover Clarke’s legal costs for the interim payment application. Justice Darville Gomez emphasized that the ruling does not predetermine the size of Clarke’s final compensation, and leaves Assistant Registrar Deal’s pending damages ruling entirely unaffected.

Nassau, Bahamas – Months of collective bargaining between the Bahamas Union of Teachers (BUT) and the national government have broken down into open confrontation, after the administration reintroduced a salary package union leaders already rejected earlier in negotiations. BUT President Belinda Wilson made the impasse public during an orientation event this week for over 100 newly hired educators across the country, outlining the union’s core demands and criticizing the government’s negotiating posture as bad-faith.

For a Bahamian family building a life in Jacksonville, Florida, what began as a routine health scare has spiraled into a crisis that threatens their home, their stability and their future. Terrel Carey, a 37-year-old father of five and former photojournalist, now faces an overwhelming combination of end-stage kidney disease, advanced diabetes and permanent severe vision loss—conditions that have robbed him of his ability to work and pushed his family to seek public support to avoid losing their home.

Before his health declined, Carey worked as a professional photographer and videographer, creating visual content and covering events to support his growing household. For years, he and his wife Waydelle were both working breadwinners, able to cover their expenses and care for their five children: a 15-year-old from Carey’s previous relationship, an 8-year-old son, a 5-year-old daughter, and 2-year-old twin girls. That two-income stability collapsed as Carey’s health worsened, leaving the family dependent on a single income at the worst possible moment.

Carey’s health crisis first emerged in summer 2024, when persistent severe headaches sent him to the hospital. Doctors quickly diagnosed uncontrolled hypertension and clear signs of progressive kidney failure, admitting him for several days after abnormal test results raised urgent red flags. A follow-up biopsy confirmed end-stage kidney disease, with clinicians projecting his kidneys would fail completely by December 2024. The situation escalated to a life-threatening emergency when excess fluid built up in Carey’s body, leaving him constantly exhausted, short of breath, and with persistent chest pressure.

The devastating diagnosis came at a moment Carey never could have predicted: he was on assignment photographing a wedding in Tallahassee when his primary care provider called with his lab results, urging him to seek emergency care immediately. “The doctor told me I was at risk of dying if I didn’t get to a hospital right away,” Carey recalled.

After returning to Jacksonville, Carey began urgent dialysis treatment via a catheter placed near his neck, before undergoing surgery to create a vascular fistula in his left arm for ongoing hemodialysis. He later transitioned to peritoneal dialysis, which allows him to complete treatment sessions at home rather than at a clinical facility. Unlike in-center hemodialysis, which left Carey completely drained after every session, struggling with slurred speech and difficulty walking, home-based treatment is far less physically taxing. “When you finish in-center treatment, you feel completely wiped out,” he explained. “All I could manage after getting home was eat something small, then go straight to sleep.”

For Carey, the cruelest blow of his illness has not been the repeated dialysis sessions or the constant physical discomfort—it is the permanent vision loss that has stripped him of his independence and his ability to earn a living. Today, his right eye is completely blind, while his left eye only allows him to distinguish basic light and shadow. He compares his remaining vision to trying to see through a sheet of wet wax paper. He initially tried to document his health journey online, posting videos of his dialysis sessions, medical appointments and transplant evaluations to generate much-needed income, but further deterioration of his left eye’s vision forced him to abandon the project.

As medical bills pile up and a broken rent repayment plan has put the family at imminent risk of eviction, the Careys have launched a public GoFundMe campaign to cover gaps in their insurance coverage and basic household costs. A previous rent repayment plan requiring monthly payments of over $2,000 fell through recently, leaving the family facing possible displacement from their rented home. Out-of-pocket costs for care not covered by insurance add up quickly: appointments with low-vision specialists alone cost between $200 and $300 per visit, and Carey needs ongoing care to learn to navigate with a white cane and adjust to life with severe vision impairment.

Asking for public help has not been easy for Carey, who spent his entire adult life providing for his family independently. While relatives have stepped up to offer what support they can, many have limited resources of their own, and assistance from friends has been inconsistent. The strain has touched every member of the extended family, and Waydelle Carey said the family has put aside pride to ask for help. “Pride aside, we need help,” she shared in a public Facebook post. “I’m putting myself out here in this vulnerable position just to ask for some support, some help to get us through this.”

Even amid nightly dialysis treatments and declining health, Carey still stays active in caring for his young twin daughters, and his children have become a critical source of emotional support. During family outings, his 8-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter often step in to guide him, holding his hand when he needs help turning or navigating new spaces. “They remind me that they love me, that I’m a good dad,” Carey said. “That encouragement is what keeps me going some days.”

Still, the emotional weight of losing his independence, his livelihood and his vision has taken a severe toll. Carey has struggled with depression and even suicidal thoughts, recalling many mornings where he would cry before dialysis, overwhelmed by the physical and emotional burden of his condition. “It gets heavy sometimes,” he acknowledged. Therapy has helped him manage his depression, and transitioning to home dialysis has reduced some of his daily stress, but he says the emotional impact of chronic kidney disease is often long-lasting.

“A lot of people think depression only hits right after you get the diagnosis,” he explained. “But this is a life change. The first period is the hardest, but many people live with this depression for years, even decades, while dealing with kidney disease. Treatment keeps you alive, but it doesn’t fix the disease.”

Carey is currently undergoing evaluation for a combined kidney and pancreas transplant, a procedure that could address both his end-stage kidney disease and his diabetes. He holds out cautious hope that the transplant could also improve the remaining vision in his left eye, even as he acknowledges that his blindness may be permanent. “At the end of the day, I just want to be able to live a long life and still enjoy time with my kids,” he said. “I know my vision might not come back, but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to hope that it can.”

Four weeks have passed since the devastating July 10 plane crash near San Andros Airport that claimed 10 lives, including Giovanni “Geo” McKenzie – the only son of Apostle Dr. Jan Jones. Today, the heartbroken mother continues to be swallowed by overwhelming waves of grief, saying she is adrift in a fog of sorrow that she cannot navigate on her own. “We pray, but this is not easy,” Dr. Jones shared in a recent interview. “We may start laughing and talking like everything is normal, but the pain is always there, cutting through any moment of lightness.”

The family alternates between small moments of calm and days crippled by sadness, clinging to their faith to carry them through, even as unanswered questions about the crash continue to hang over them. Dr. Jones revealed that McKenzie’s youngest sister – a teenager he helped raise – constantly asks why her brother had to die that way. The young girl also struggles to accept that he will not be there to walk across the stage with her at her high school graduation next year.

For Dr. Jones, the void left by her son’s death is a permanent, aching absence. “If you let this grief consume you, you could literally lose your mind,” she explained. “Some days I don’t eat. Some nights I can’t sleep. I’m just… gone. I don’t know how to explain it – I’m in a place where even I don’t know where I am right now.”

Dr. Jones described her bond with McKenzie as unbreakable. Her three daughters often teased that McKenzie was her favorite child, and while the mother of four says she loves all her children equally, she acknowledged McKenzie held a unique place in her heart. The two shared endless common ground, and countless first experiences together. “We talked about everything,” she said. “Even though his father was in his life, he always came to me with everything. I taught him how to drive. I bought him his very first musical instruments.”

The way Dr. Jones learned of her son’s death only added more trauma to the tragedy. She first saw the news on social media, as friends messaged her telling her to check Facebook for updates on the crash, rather than receiving an official notification from government or airline authorities. “It was wrong,” she said of the experience. “We should have gotten a call from officials first, not finding out that your only son is dead from a random Facebook post and people messaging you about it.”

When the news hit, she said the pain felt identical to the labor contractions she experienced when giving birth to McKenzie. “I couldn’t even cry at first,” she recalled. “All I could do was speak in tongues – that was the only language my body and soul knew in that moment. I just asked God what His answer was to all this pain. I just needed to hear something from Him in the middle of that horror.”

Now, as the family prepares to lay McKenzie to rest this weekend, her symptoms of grief have only intensified, with many sleepless nights and lost meals. At 35 years old, McKenzie was a talented keyboardist and beloved bandleader with big dreams for his future. In one of their final conversations before he boarded the doomed Flamingo Air flight, he shared his ambitious plans for the year, all centered on his lifelong passion for music. He had recently purchased new instruments, was developing his music project Da Pond with dreams of touring internationally, and hoped to open a music school alongside launching several other small businesses.

“Wherever music was, that’s where you’d find him,” Dr. Jones said of her son. “He was always so ambitious, he always believed he would make it to the top – that’s how I raised all my children, it comes from the work I do too.”

The crash has also left a deep gap in McKenzie’s church family at Revolution Church, where he worshipped regularly and played keyboard for services. Congregation members remember him as a warm, kind person fully devoted to his faith. Dr. Jones remembers her son as a visionary and a builder of people, someone who dedicated himself to bringing out the best in everyone around him.

To this day, Dr. Jones says she still has many lingering questions about the crash that killed her son – some she is not ready to share publicly. So far, representatives from Flamingo Air have not reached out to meet with the families of the victims, but Dr. Jones says she holds onto hope that she will get the answers she seeks eventually. “The only thing I need to do right now is lay my son to rest, give him peace,” she said. “Anything else I have to handle can wait until after that.”

For residents of Little Grand Cay, a small Bahamian island, the long wait for restored electricity has grown even longer. Bahamas Power and Light (BPL) recently announced that repairs to a rented replacement generator have been pushed back to August 21, marking the latest setback in a weeks-long crisis that has upended daily life for the island’s community.

According to BPL’s official update, the third-party rental generation firm notified the utility that mechanical fixes would take longer than initially projected. Once repairs are completed at the Grand Bahama facility, the generator will immediately be shipped to Little Grand Cay to resolve the outage. In a statement, BPL issued a formal apology to customers for the extended disruption and expressed gratitude for their ongoing patience amid the challenging circumstances.

This newest delay delivers a fresh blow to residents who have navigated harsh living conditions since the full island outage began on August 5, triggered by the failure of the island’s primary generator. Even before the total blackout, the community had struggled with chronic, frequent rolling blackouts that disrupted normal activity. Since the full outage, Little Grand Cay has been left without not just electricity, but also working phone service and running water, leaving residents dependent on small, portable personal generators to meet basic power needs.

The cost of running these portable units has strained household budgets significantly. Multiple residents report spending between $90 and $100 daily on fuel to keep their generators operating, with one local resident putting their total cumulative fuel costs at nearly $1,000 already through the outage. As these expenses mount, many residents are now pushing for formal reimbursement or bill credits from BPL to offset the unexpected costs they have been forced to pay.

Kirk Cornish, the Member of Parliament for North Abaco, which includes Little Grand Cay, clarified the government’s ongoing efforts to resolve the crisis. He explained that the national government had already deployed two new generators to the island, but both units developed unexpected mechanical defects that forced them out of service. A third generator sourced from Walker’s Cay also suffered operational issues, leading officials to arrange for the current repaired rental unit from Grand Bahama.

“ No effort has been spared. We are trying to address the issue as best as we can, ” Cornish said, adding that he keeps constituents updated on developments through a dedicated WhatsApp community group. “ I sent a voice note that I’m fully aware and we are fully working on it and we continue to face the challenges. ”

Cornish pointed to the government’s ongoing investment in the island’s power infrastructure as proof of its commitment, noting that at least four or five new generators have been deployed to Little Grand Cay over the past five years alone. He also highlighted a recent policy move to address a long-standing financial grievance for the community: a more than $500,000 accumulated utility arrears that stemmed from a decision by the previous administration to instruct residents to use utility services without paying their bills. The current government has fully forgiven that outstanding debt, a move Cornish framed as a correction of an unfair policy.

When asked about residents’ calls for fuel cost reimbursement, Cornish acknowledged that residents have every right to make the request, but noted that the decision falls outside of his direct control. BPL has confirmed that it will issue new public updates as more information becomes available on the generator repairs and shipping timeline.

The repeated delays have deepened long-running concerns among Little Grand Cay residents about the overall reliability and sustainability of the island’s power infrastructure, with many calling for more permanent solutions to prevent future extended outages from disrupting daily life.