FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 8, 2026

Nassau, The Bahamas— Bahamas Power and Light Company Limited (BPL) wishes to provide a comprehensive update on power supply in Great Guana Cay, including the recent outages, restoration efforts, and plans to strengthen the subsea cable infrastructure serving the community.

Great Guana Cay was equipped with a suitable standby generator more than a year ago, providing robust and reliable power supply. While intermittent voltage regulation challenges occurred, the Cay did not experience extended outages during that period. On Aug 26, 2026, however, the on-island generator suffered a major electrical failure and had to be removed from the Cay for repairs. The Man O War Cay generator served as the secondary standby source for Guana Cay in the event of a cable failure.

At 8:44 a.m. on Friday, Oct 2, 2026, the Matt Lowe’s Cay feeder tripped. Troubleshooting identified a subsea cable fault between Matt Lowe’s Cay and Man O War Cay, and the team successfully restored supply to Guana Cay using the Man O War Cay generator.

On Sunday, Oct 4, 2026, that generator tripped offline because of a mechanical issue requiring extensive troubleshooting, which remains ongoing. With the cable fault also limiting supply, only portions of Guana Cay could be energized. The Kent Smith area of North Guana Cay remained without power because its three-phase transformer requires three healthy incoming phases to operate properly.

After approximately three days without power in the Kent Smith area, the cable fault was located and repaired around midday on Wednesday, Oct 7, 2026, enabling supply to be restored to the affected area.

At approximately 7:20 p.m. that evening, the Matt Lowe’s Cay feeder tripped again. Troubleshooting revealed a separate subsea cable fault between Scotland Cay and Guana Cay, leaving the entire Guana Cay community without power overnight. The fault was located and repairs were underway by 11 a.m. on Thursday, Oct 8, 2026. Power was restored to the Guana Cay community at approximately 12:50 p.m. that day.

As a long-term measure, Tender 1326/26 for the installation of new reinforced subsea cables is in the final approval process. Once the purchase order is issued, BPL will mobilize the vendor. The cable-laying project is expected to take approximately four to six weeks to complete once work begins.

BPL apologizes to the residents and businesses of Great Guana Cay for the extended and recurring interruptions in power supply and the hardship these outages have caused. We thank consumers for their patience and remain committed to improving the reliability of power supply through continued repairs and investment in stronger, more resilient infrastructure.