KINGSTOWN, St Vincent, CMC – Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves says the St. Vincent Electricity Services Limited (VINLEC) should have commented sooner after a four-hour islandwide blackout Sunday night.
The state-owned VINLEC is the sole commercial electricity generator here, and the blackout left customers in the dark between 6:30 pp.m. and 10:45 p.m.local time).
VINLEC later said on its Facebook page that its technicians were working to address the issue.
However, Gonsalves told a news conference in Kingstown on Monday that during the power outage, people called him, saying it was “wild” on Facebook that the power outage resulted from the testing of floodlights at Arnos Vale Sports Complex as the country prepares to host matches in the ICC Men’s T20 Cricket World Cup.
“They are testing lights today, but the testing of the light didn’t chip out anything,” Gonsalves said, adding that he had spoken to VINLEC’s chief executive, informing him that the information should be put out immediately whenever there is a system failure.
Gonsalves said that some people thrive on mischief, and while this cannot be stopped, the correct information should be given.
He said that VINLEC had issued a release, and he asked media representatives if they had received it. But the media representatives at the news conference said no.
Gonsalves quoted the release as saying that VINLEC’s teams immediately initiated restoration efforts after the power outage at 6:30 pm, and electricity was restored to the island by 10:45 pm.
He said some people and priority areas, including the hospital and airport, were restored “within the hour,” further quoting the release as saying that the disruption was caused by “a switchgear issue” at one of the central power plants.
Gonsalves said VINLEC had enough spare capacity to “isolate the problem to get about the restoration. And when they restored it, something else happened. So they had to sort that problem out”.
The release further said that VINLEC understands the significant inconvenience caused by the islandwide blackout and profoundly appreciates the patience and understanding demonstrated by its customers.
The company is committed to maintaining a reliable power supply and providing exceptional customer service.
“We thank them for the statement, but I insist something should have been said fairly promptly last evening. But for those who trade in mischief, … stop this foolish thing. The lights were not tested yesterday or last night,” Gonsalves said.
He told reporters that he believes that testing of the lights will start using generators.
“It is a simple issue,” the prime minister said.
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