B.E.C. - Load shedding or what?

[spottydog]

:mad: Has anyone gone through the motions of asking our electricity supplier what is the reason for the frequent lengthy power cuts we are experiencing? Certainly we Dundas Town residents could start getting seriously paranoid about it. I have lived in Nassau long enough to have experienced the phenomenom of load shedding. Guess the old creaky grid of Abaco is straining to crank out the juice here too. It would be lovely if they actually fessed up and said "sorry we can't supply you all 24/7 but here is our programmed blackout schedule by area" if this is indeed the case.

[patw]

I heard yesterday that there are three new generators sitting at the docks in MH.
We have been subject to load shedding for the past three days. Our power on Guana, shuts off around the time everyone is getting off of work and dinner time. We have a generator but gas is so expensive over here. Yesterday we got an extra surprise, we lost power in the morning for two hours AND last night for two hours until 5:45. We are all wondering how long this is going to go on too. Can't seem to get an answer. What is bad, is trying to explain to guests that they will be without power everyday for two hours. Some houses we caretake for, don't have generators. So, no showers, no toilet flushing, no A/C and if there is an electric stove, no cooking. We all know the old saying, "Abaco is not for Sissies" but even the locals are upset about this load shedding. We can't expect our guests to grin and bear it everyday for two hours when we are miserable everyday for two hours!

[Stone Malone]

Elbow Cay's power was of from 11:30 till 1:30 today - load sharing was the story I heard. Whatever the reason, it goes out far too often.

[patw]

Elbow Cay's power was of from 11:30 till 1:30 today - load sharing was the story I heard. Whatever the reason, it goes out far too often.

Aww man! I guess we better get ready for a blackout at dinner time again!

[papanasty]

Have any of you noticed your last power bill how it has increased 100% we are now paying .40 per kw. plus the fuel surcharge is more than the power used. Never in my life have i watched the economy tumble down so fast and so hard! I know i'm not imagining all of this and am begining to understand why all of this is happening mainly due to the great USA and the Love of greed!! It's the big boys in the Banking system and the oil companys that have put 75% of us in a terrible terrible situation that could last for a long time> I'm working every day but the majority of the work that i'm locked in on was locked in 6 months ago and since then just fuel has increased 100%. Every thing is going through the roof with no end in site. NOT A GOOD DAY Papanasty :mad: :mad:

[Stone Malone]

candle lit dinner on the deck - sounds romantic - oh wait, the skeeters - sorry Patw

[patw]

candle lit dinner on the deck - sounds romantic - oh wait, the skeeters - sorry Patw

Yeah, skeeters are thick.

[Stone Malone]

Patw, just to clarify, I'm not trying to be negative just making light of the situation. I unfortunately cannot not afford a large generator ( I have a small one for lights and fridge after a hurricane) so no ac etc when we go out. But regardless of the annoying power outages I still give thanks everyday that I live here.

[Stone Malone]

Patw, just to clarify, I'm not trying to be negative just making light of the situation. I unfortunately cannot not afford a large generator ( I have a small one for lights and fridge after a hurricane) so no ac etc when we go out. But regardless of the annoying power outages I still give thanks everyday that I live here.


can not - not: cannot not

[patw]

Patw, just to clarify, I'm not trying to be negative just making light of the situation. I unfortunately cannot not afford a large generator ( I have a small one for lights and fridge after a hurricane) so no ac etc when we go out. But regardless of the annoying power outages I still give thanks everyday that I live here.

We have a small generator too for after hurricanes. We run ours for the fridge and lights then turn our fridge off and plug Ma Josie's in for awhile.
I knew you weren't trying to be negative. :D You want to see negative, be at my house around 4ish when Sidney comes home from work and the power goes off! Whew!! Then try sitting in a hot house with him after he hasn't been able to take a shower and his whole body smells like a dirty arm pit!:eek: :eek: :eek: That's when I get negative!:D :D

[180degrees]

Will the increased capacity for Bakers Bay have a positive effect on the entire electrical grid? When is it schedule to come online?

[Jacaranda]

If they would/could broadcast/advertise a cut off schedule, maybe we all could get better preperated....
:confused:
Such as...gann fishin' if de power gaan be hout......:mad:

[SamFamAustin]

Well 40 cents a kW-hr is high, as Papa Nasty says. The second highest in the US is Block Island, RI with 60 cents - a similar situation because only small diesel generators are used and the fuel must be delivered at great cost. One place in Texas has 300 clients paying 73 cents, the highest on record. Others are in remote Hawaii and Alaska islands with similar diesel gen-set power, about 42 cents (source: EIA, 2008). The US average is about 10 cents and many pay 15 cents in premium markets - the fuel surcharge is extra, of course.

The Bahamas Eco Forum, US Energy Department, and all kinds of experts have demonstrated many ways to lower electricity prices and make power more dependable. It is a shame that few of these suggestions are ever taken to heart and implemented. Remember that electric companies don't make money by saving customers on their bills! It is unfortunate that the status quo actually invites the worst efficiencies and the highest prices. -sammie

[patw]

7:17pm, power is off on Guana Cay. Here we go again!

[papanasty]

The development has there own power plant with no near the future hook up to the main land or BEC. I do beleive they will eventually have around 12 mega watt when all is in place and be supplied with bunker fuel. I'm not positive on that but they will be supplying there own power for at least a couple years. I would like nothing better than invest in a large wind generator if i was to get approval because at the rate i'm paying now it is going to cost myself and my buisness $40.000.00 + a year for electricity. We were going to go to Costa Rica for our yearly vacation this year because you get more for your buck there but with the economy the way it is we have decided to just stay here and ride out the LOL>. Hope every one can make it through these hard times! I hate to see any one lose there lively hood Respectfully Papanasty :confused: One thing i would like to say about Bakers Bay is that they are a real asset to our present economy!! God only knows how bad it would be now with out there contribution to our present economy,they are keeping Abaco afloat at this time. THANKS BAKERS BAY :o

[Wonkee]

You think it is a pain haveing the power go out at home, Imagine it going out at the Farm 12 miles, away, at night, and not knowing if it is going to come on before the Chickens run out of food and water. 60k dead chickens could be the result. It would be nice to know if they are going to shut it of for power sharing.
Part of the Story with the powere is, that they are building a new power facility. I cannot remember where, just that it will be run off of Bunker C fuel to reduce the cost of the power. They will also be able to provide more power than before. Currently BEC has two back-up generators that are helping to provide Power until they finally get the new station online.

[NoMoSnow]

This may be a loaded question, but does BEC have a position on residential wind generators? I know that many states and provinces had a monopolistic view on generating your own power, but recent legislation slapped that down. In most places excess power can be fed back into the grid for a credit. Technology has driven the price down so you can set one up for under $1000 or go up to about $30000. It all depends on the amount of electricity you want to produce.

A good source of info is http://www.awea.org/smallwind/smsyslst.html

[SamFamAustin]

Most local places do not allow for reverse metering, NoMoSnow. But the folks who spent like $15-50K several years ago are now saying their electric bills are super cheap after paying off the wind turbine thang. My understanding is that the newer ones last longer, make more power, and some can even be taken down and stored in case of a bad storm or hurricane. No Bahamian agency that I can tell has any policy about promoting residential wind power, other than it is a hopeful thing that others would do themselves. Correct me if that's the wrong assessment.

Basically the "dog days of summer" can be becalmed and you're at the mercy of the local provider like BEC or your own generator. Most other months you'll be spinning with 10 to 25 knot breezes or more - just ask the folks who went to the Abacos the last several years in May. Maybe 30 knots some days and a full rage on the waters? LOL, I bet a wind turbine would spin like a crazy monkey! -sammie

[Wonkee]

The Family has been looking at Alternative power sources to the Farm. When your BEC bill is over 10k a couple times, it makes you want to get away from BEC. The Problem is the Initial cost to do any type of Solar or wind setup. The farm uses alot of energy, with the Freezers, chicken houses processing room, water lines and pumps. They have been doing what they can, even opting to keep lights out every few nights. But then they have to keep the Chickens longer to get them to size. It is a bad situation all around for the larger Companies in Abaco. They can only abnsorb the fuel, electric, Feed, labour, storage, delivery, handeling fees for so long before they have to come down to the consumer. Problem is people dont seem to think the prices should go up. The Electric bill doubling is just one of the business killers here in Abaco.

[SamFamAustin]

What's your average power requirements at the farm, Wonkee? If you know your kilowatt-hours you can estimate average kW power - there are about 720 hours in a month and it sounds like you need power pretty continuous. For the sake of comparison, a regular old house will use about 500 kW-hr a month, with some houses (not McMansions) being up to 1,000 kW-hrs. That's why many wind turbines are 1 kW peak output, while bigger ones are 5 kW. The latter can cost somewhere about $16,000 plus all the bells and whistles. Some come as kits with the inverter and all the directions to plug it into your circuit breaker box!

A grocery company down here in Texas is testing a innovative design by Wind Energy, Inc. that can generate 25 to 50 kW peak power using a "helix" design with fiberglass sails instead of noisy turbine blades. This of course would be more expensive, not sure of the price.

But look at it this way, even with one residential unit you'd save a ton of money.

1,000 kW-hrs times 12 months = 12,000 kW-hr
12,000 kW-hr times 40 cents = $4,800 (not including fuel surcharge and fees)

So in 3 to 5 years that little wind turbine would pay itself off, nice. If you do some research on the pay-back and all the costs, including importing and labor fees for your particular unit, you could "take that one to the bank" and still come out on top. -sammie

[Wonkee]

Well They have a 50kw Generator as the back up now. I am thinking the damand is somewhere between 40 and 50. The Initial cost for Solar was close to 1.5 mill for a system large enough to run the farm fully during Daylight hours. But you still have the problem of Night. even with the batteries, there would still be the need for BEC assisted. They figured that it would take only 5 years to see the payoff. The problem is if they had 1.5 mil they could pay the farm off, and then would be able to manage the bill. It is a matter of liquid capital. Chickens are not worth anything until someone buys them, and the Government likes to give permits to allow US chicken products in that can be supplied locally. The stores have a tendency to buy US chicken claiming that the Tourist market don't want Big Bird because they dont recognize the label. So the chicken goes unsold, so no money comes in, and you cannot buy Equipment like the Solar panels, or wind turbines, on good looks, and Chicken in a freezer. Besides which if good looks could buy you things, I would still be in a dire straights.
At last check Solar power equipment was free of duty. So it would be a good suplement to those who do have the funds available to invest in such a system. If there is one thing that Abaco has is Sun....
Now if any one has a low cost plan to turn Chicken S### into usable electricity...The farm will never buy power agian.

[PattyB]

Wonkee, the very first meal we look forward to upon arrival is roast native chicken. Your family's chicken is the best I have eaten. It is too bad the locals do not appreciate what they have.

[HALF-A-HAMIAN]

You can bet that most of that is under the table finance. What percent of the tourist trade knows what brand the restaurant prepares and on a National basis, what percent of tourists purchase chicken direct from the markets to know if it's Big Bird or Tyson?! This is something all those in any type of agriculture are having to fight, imported instead of domestic goods, and it seems to be a lot of blind eyes in the Capitol.

[johnnycake]

The Bahama government duty rate on solar panels was just raised from duty free to 10%

[1-Abaco]

How long was the outage today on Elbow??

[SamFamAustin]

Well even solar power looks remote now, so I hope the guv'mint does something - and I'd like to second the motion that Big Bird makes the best fried chicken, bar none. Mama says so, so there!

You mentioned chicken pooh, which actually can be done using a "bio-gas" technique that creates natural gas; the natural gas then can run some diesel-cycle generators, a proven technology. This too takes loads of land and has some waste landfill issues, but you can recycle anything that rots ... chances are, you don't have enough pooh to make it work out at 50 kW, like a huge landfill would.

Honestly, wind power is probably your best bet. If you could work with hot water, a solar heater is very cheap to build and there are books how to do this ... the simplest is just laying out long lengths of black water hose in the summer ... but I'm not sure if that'll do you very good except for annual coop cleaning maybe. So I'd lobby the guv'mint for some wind power seed money such as for reduced duties and some incentives. Maybe that would help. /sammie

[TOLERance]

The stores have a tendency to buy US chicken claiming that the Tourist market don't want Big Bird because they dont recognize the label. So the chicken goes unsold, so no money comes in, and you cannot buy Equipment like the Solar panels, or wind turbines, on good looks, and Chicken in a freezer.[/quote]

Another reason to discourage tourists from carrying food when they come here for vacation...If you buy here you don't have to lug that cooler--no matter what you have been told, we have food here, and businesses that are trying to supply your needs!

[Stone Malone]

How long was the outage today on Elbow??

I was off the island for most of the afternoon so I don't really know. I do know however that it was off all afternoon at Cracker P's / Lubbers Quarters. No worry, their last day for the season was a blast. Back on Elbow it went off at 10 or so last night for about an hour.

[Shelby]

The stores have a tendency to buy US chicken claiming that the Tourist market don't want Big Bird because they dont recognize the label.

First off, I've had Big Bird chicken on a number of occasions, and it's fantastic. :-)

I'm surprised the government wouldn't have some sort of legislation/incentive program in place to encourage stores, restaurants, etc. to buy local. I suppose that's what duty is for, but it doesn't seem to be working, does it? Is there any sort of agricultural industry organization that could lobby for something like this?

On second thought, it's not just agricultural products. I can't tell you the number of times I turn over a souvenir in the Bahamas and see a "Made in China" sticker. Huh??!!!

[Patty&Rudi]

On the outages - when we were in Hope Town in February we had a few, they were rolling, from north, to just under Hope Town, to White Sound, etc. and were in a house without a generator. Not too much fun in a rental house.

B.E.C. won't let you know when the outages will be? It would be helpful to know in advance! We'll be there a month in 2009 and we will be running our business from there three days a week, or two, and it will require the internet (to use Skype) -- and with no electricity there won't be internet - will there?

Our wireless router runs on electricity... our main modem it feeds into do too. So in Hope Town - I imagine that will be the case? Or does satellite somehow work without it (we pick it up out of the air?) so we can work as long as the laptop batteries hold out?

Anyone know? ...unless B.E.C. will provide a schedule so we can
make our appointments around the blackout schedule! :rolleyes:

[HALF-A-HAMIAN]

B.E.C. and schedule is a true oxymoron!

[mlmp]

Have lunch at the Edge, they have a generator and I believe the internet will work.

[Patti Puzo]

Have lunch at the Edge, they have a generator and I believe the internet will work.


Hey MIMP, got everything squared away for my MS visit in 3 weeks. Staying at the Navy Lodge. :)

[Wonkee]

First off, I've had Big Bird chicken on a number of occasions, and it's fantastic. :-)

I'm surprised the government wouldn't have some sort of legislation/incentive program in place to encourage stores, restaurants, etc. to buy local. I suppose that's what duty is for, but it doesn't seem to be working, does it? Is there any sort of agricultural industry organization that could lobby for something like this?

On second thought, it's not just agricultural products. I can't tell you the number of times I turn over a souvenir in the Bahamas and see a "Made in China" sticker. Huh??!!!
It is hard to find truly Bahamian Souvenirs. That is why I do my best to buy from the Local Artisians. Sand Dollar has soem great handcrafted jewlery. Don Wood does many carvings ans his woork can be bought at Wrackers, or at his home, and shop in Marsh across from Memorial Plaza. Pete Johnston at Petes Pub. There is a shop who's name is escaping me, that is in the group of shops next to Sand Dollar, and next to Java that only sells hand made Bahamian art, and jewlery. While I lived there I made alot of crafts to be sold in the shops. I think it is unfair to buy an item from China, and paint Abao on it and sell it for 10 times as much. The items are there you just have to be willing to look. They often cost more, but it is an investment. and supports the Locals .

[Shelby]

I have to admit, it is easier to find locally made souvenirs in Abaco than on some of the other Bahamian islands. I'd challenge you to find anything in Nassau that's locally made... except for some shell and straw work, and frankly, even some of that appears dubious.

I'm with you, Wonkee. I'd WAY rather spend more and support the locals. Besides, isn't a souvenir supposed to be something unique or native to the place you're visiting? If I wanted a souvenir from China, I'd go there. :-)

Some of the most amazing artwork we saw last trip was on Man-O-War. Aside from the Sail Shop, of course, we saw some gorgeous, locally made quilts. And there was a tiny little building in town where a gentleman was displaying half-models of boats he'd made out of various kinds of wood. Just beautiful!

Amanda

[BahamaAngie]

First when we ate chicken and eggs there we too thought how good it seemed. Although, I do not know the brand of the chicken we bought. It was from either Maxwells or Price Right (or whatever it is called).

Secondly, when we were in TC in 2006, they told us what time the power would be out every day as they were working on the power lines. It made it convenient for us. Of course, we have experienced outages without being told. The only thing I ever got upset about is when we did NOT have water. But we survived!

[patw]

Ok, the power was off for three hours today. Was it load shedding or was the power off everywhere? Ironic that BEC was here on Guana today to collect their revenue and cut off people that owe money!

[South Pause]

Pat, that stinks!
When we were there in June, the power outages were pretty bad,and I was able to get through and talk to someone who seemed to know what was going on. (That was when the underwater cable was cut by boats dropping anchor...twice!).
Not sure if it's worth calling, but was wondering, after the fact, if they could tell you why the power went off today.

Seems like the only place to be when the power is off, that would be comfortable this time of year, is in the water with a cool beverage:p

[patw]

Pat, that stinks!
When we were there in June, the power outages were pretty bad,and I was able to get through and talk to someone who seemed to know what was going on. (That was when the underwater cable was cut by boats dropping anchor...twice!).
Not sure if it's worth calling, but was wondering, after the fact, if they could tell you why the power went off today.

Seems like the only place to be when the power is off, that would be comfortable this time of year, is in the water with a cool beverage:p

Unfortunately, we both had work to do today even with the power off. I swear it has been so hot the past few days. No breeze to cool things off and no rain. Its drying up again, really dusty.

[SamFamAustin]

I think you have planned and unplanned "rolling blackouts," Patw. It is perhaps beyond peak spreading and load shedding.

Well just give me the word for rain but I'm hesitant to do the singing / dancing / smoking toad thing again for fear of a tropical storm. That's some mighty powerful mojo!

I mean we went to Mississippi on vacation and to escape Hurricane Dolly and a big ole thunderstorm formed right overhead at my brother's house, drifted out to sea, and became Tropical Storm Eduardo. And not even a smoking toad! :D

[HALF-A-HAMIAN]

Didn't one of those Kickapoos in the Li'l Abner comics always have a storm cloud overhead? I guess that's better than me, seems every time I go out and anywhere I go, I've got buzzards circling over head! Think they know something?