Unusual outages! Homes shouldn’t need to have emergency generators
Third District Representative, Julian Fraser has suggested that emergency generators used in the absence of electricity should become a thing of the past in the community.
He made the contention in the House of Assembly (HOA) recently while expressing support for the candidacy of Sheldon Scatliffe as Chairman of the Board of the BVI Electricity Corporation (BVIEC).
Fraser, a resident of Sea Cows Bay, said he noticed that for the past few months, there have been frequent power cuts in his area.
“[It] is unusual what’s taken place within these last two or three months with the power supply,” Fraser said.
He added: “In my case in particular, where I live, I suffer through having my power cut and looking up in the hills and seeing everybody else around me with electricity. And of course, you know in my position, I can’t get an emergency generator.”
Fraser said he did not feel the challenge was a matter of resources for the BVIEC and urged the government to take a closer look at the problem.
The Third District Representative said he noticed the phenomenon of frequent power cuts when he came to Tortola in the early nineties after living for decades in the United States and was advised at the time by a BVIEC official to invest in an emergency generator.
“And I thought it was so weird because where I was, where I came from, there was never, for 20 years, never a power [cut]… not even a surge in electricity, much less a power outage. And I came to Tortola and the next thing, every week the power was going off,” Fraser noted.
According to the lawmaker, it became a norm for every establishment around the territory to have an emergency generator.
“I want to see that become an exception, where only very, very essential services like the hospital will have an emergency generator. I know there are those who think it’s impossible, but I think it’s possible,” Fraser said.
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Solar and wind power are the answers to our solution then.
A lil 2×4 island and we cant keep the power on and we are here talking about going independent?
Home owners should invest in solar panels.
Emergency generators should only be used during hurricanes, not on a daily basis. HE IS CORRECT WITH WHAT HE IS SAYING!
3rd district representative need to publicly put a foot forward and step up for the horse racing association and help save the horse track from being held hostage.
everyday in the BVI due to inferiorstructure.
Government needs to change its ridiculous policy on solar power before anyone will invest!
Mr. Fraser evidently forgot that there was no power in the Territory for quite sometime after Irma. Asserting that stand-by generators are not necessary flies in the face of the govt telling people to be prepared for hurricanes. Many would prefer not to have to buy a gererator, but nearly everybody knows BVI EC is unrelaible, and has been for decades, and is only likely to get worse. How stupid does he think people are?
We live in a hurricane belt. Standby generators are always a good idea
They put BVIEC in charge (no pun intended) what do you expect?
BVIEC needs everybody to pay the exorbitant bills to compensate for the unpaid BVIHSA and Government electricity bills. Let’s not mention paying for the wrong generators that somebody bought for the cooperation. Fuel surcharge my a$%
Have you heard of renewable energy? Please research and learn how it can be applied to BVI. IT’S TIME!!!
When you live in a 3rd world country you have to get use to the fact that there will always be power.outages.
The man has been an elected official for how many years now? Government not paying their electricity bill so the costs are being carried by the population. No investment in underground lines or Alternative Energy. A country with so much Financial Services Income and going nowhere. And some fools crying for Independence.
I will never give up my Genny.
Solar and wind sounds good, but it’s a hype, push by the USA and others who don’t want to acknowledge that war create more environmental damage with the gases that bombs sends into the atmosphere. Any solar system you set up has to be derated on cloudy or calm days, thermal energy would better, and batteries are so expensive, and the material for productions comes from Africa, so it would be increase suffer of Africans since the white global corporation will exert more pressure on politicians to control land resources for production. Government will oppress their people for a bribe from these global corporation leaving the citizen treasury because their best interest would be ignored.
As a former BVIEC worker, I think the company will realize better service to customer if they venture into hotline work where the power doesn’t come off to work as announced maintenance do now.