FORMER BVIEC MANAGER SAYS URGENT ATTENTION SHOULD BE PAID TO POWER PROBLEMS
The electricity problem in the British Virgin Islands is not over and something needs to be done urgently to rectify the situation, according to former General Manager of the BVI Electricity Corporation, now opposition Legislator the Honourable Ronnie Skelton. He has been involved in the sector for the past 20 years, prior to his retirement at the end of 1998 in preparation to enter the political arena. Over the past few months, the BVI has been experiencing a serious spate of power outages, disrupting business activity and frustrating residents throughout the entire territory. Corporation officials have blamed the problem on antiquated generators at the power stations that are nearing the end of their useful life.
During the July 28th Sitting of the Legislative Council of the Virgin Islands, Hon. Skelton, who is perhaps the most qualified local in the electrical field in the BVI, again volunteered his services to work with the BVIEC to try and solve this problem. He argued that the Minister of Communications and Works Hon. Alvin Christopher does not understand the magnitude of the problem.
The Territorial Representative referred to a statement made by Minister Christopher in LegCo on June 6th, in which he essentially promised that the load shedding would be over by the end of that month. The Corporation has rented generators from Puerto Rico to alleviate some of the problems; however, while the power outages have been less frequent, they continue. "Mr. Speaker, one you allow electricity to get into a crisis situation, there's no overnight fix," Hon. Skelton declared. He said the previous Minister of Communications and Works T.B. Lettsome experienced a similar situation back in 1981, but the government of the day vowed the territory would never be plunged into that situation again. "Mr. Speaker, because of some unfortunate circumstances, we are back into the situation! We played games with the electrical system of this country and the entire public is suffering today." According to the former BVIEC General Manager, the electrical system of this country consists of four main elements - the transmission side, the generation side, administration and finance. He argued that it is because these four elements are not working in tandem that this problem exists today. "The problems we're experiencing today have nothing to do with whether Ronnie Skelton left Electricity. Whoever is there, they must get these four elements together and the Ministry must play their part!"
Hon. Skelton suggested that the Minister's proposed investigation of the Corporation should date back 10 years instead of five. "Go back to Mr. Lettsome days and he'll understand some f the things that were needed in order to move the electrical system forward. Electricity is a thing that you can't wait until people want it to build it. You've got to build it years in advance!" He went on to highlight some other problems with the system, including the fact that a third generator was bought instead of ordering two at an additional cost of $5M. The former BVIEC G.M is convinced that if government does not inject equity into the Corporation of $5M, electricity rates will soon or consumers can expect a poorer level of service. He said he was not about to blame anyone for the current situation, but would want to urge immediate action to avert a deteriorating situation. "I don't think this is no Virgin Islands Party and NDP problem; ... I think it's a problem that confronts the whole country that we need to sit down together and solve it." Mr. Skelton stated. "I am one of the local most experienced persons in the electrical system in this country, whether we like it or not, so we need to sit down and use our people to accomplish our jobs."
He told the House that he had offered to meet with the Chief Minister to explain to him the present and future situation regarding the electrical system in the territory. "Mr. Speaker, we made some blunders because people didn't understand some of the importance of our electrical system and we played politics with the people. We played politics with our local professionals at the detriment of our country." Mr. Skelton declared that the electrical problems of the territory are not over. He said the three new generators would have to go through a commissioning stage and would throw the load off. He said the recent switching off of feeders has weakened of the distribution and transmission system and would ultimately lead to further power outages. "We have rented three new generators, which is right. I probably would have rented four...because high speed generators...they don't stand up...any disturbance on the system will shut them down." The legislator said someone needs to educate the public about what to expect.
The Territorial Rep. suggested that this situation needs a Special Select Committee to work on coming up with a solution to the electricity problem and fostering a more cohesive management team at the Corporation. "The word on the street is that things are not happening, people are not working together. Blame me for that? Mr. Speaker, you know, I will take the blame for anything providing we fix the problem."