FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 08, 2026

Nassau — Bahamas Power and Light Company Limited (BPL) extends its sincere
apologies to the residents of Cat Island and the organizers of the Rake & Scrape Festival for the
islandwide power outage that occurred on June 6, 2026. We recognize the significant
inconvenience caused to our valued customers and the impact the outage had on the closing night
of the festival.

We understand the disappointment experienced by residents, visitors, performers, vendors, and
organizers who were affected by the cancellation of the festival’s closing events.

This statement provides clarity regarding the cause of the outage, the restoration timeline,
immediate steps being taken to strengthen generation capacity on the island, and addresses
misinformation concerning the incident.

The islandwide outage, which led to the cancellation of the closing night of the Rake & Scrape
Festival, was caused by a fire involving the Cat Island 1 (CI 1) power generation unit at
approximately 8:30 p.m. A thorough investigation conducted by our technical team determined
that the turbocharger on CI Unit 1 failed and began leaking oil onto the exhaust manifold, which
subsequently ignited and caused a fire.

Upon observing the fire, our Station Operator immediately shut down CI Unit 1 and subsequently
tripped all feeders as a safety precaution, resulting in an islandwide outage. Our linesmen
responded immediately and commenced restoration efforts within one hour of the incident. By
10:33 p.m., CI Units 3 and 4 were brought back online, and power supply was restored to North
Cat Island as far as Thurston Hill.

As restoration efforts progressed, our technicians encountered operational issues with CI Unit 3,
which subsequently tripped offline. Attempts to restart the unit were unsuccessful, leaving only CI
Unit 4 available for operation. By 12:47 a.m. on Sunday, June 7, 2026, power supply had been
restored to customers as far as Arthur’s Town Airport.

At 2:20 a.m., our technicians implemented a rotational power supply schedule due to a shortfall in
generation capacity. This measure was necessary to provide electricity to as many consumers as
possible while restoration efforts continued. Both the North and South feeders remained on a
scheduled rotation between 2:21 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Additional personnel and the necessary
replacement equipment were flown into Cat Island at 12:00 p.m. to support restoration efforts.

At 1:37 p.m., the North Feeder was restored as far as Arthur’s Town. The South Feeder was
restored as far as New Bight Airport at 4:10 p.m. The South Feeder was subsequently restored as
far as Douds at 4:55 p.m., while the North Feeder was fully restored at 5:00 p.m.
Full power supply was successfully restored to all customers at 6:14 p.m., approximately 21 hours
and 46 minutes after the initial outage.

We thank our valued customers for their patience and understanding as our teams worked
diligently to restore service as quickly and safely as possible. We sincerely apologize for the
inconvenience caused by this incident.

We also wish to recognize and commend our team members whose swift response helped mitigate
potentially widespread damage at the power station. Their round-the-clock efforts enabled the
restoration of electricity to all settlements within 24 hours and helped return the island to a sense
of normalcy as quickly as possible.

As we move forward, BPL remains committed to investing in robust infrastructure capable of
meeting the growing electricity demand on Cat Island, particularly during periods of increased
activity such as festival season.

We also wish to address misinformation concerning an alleged fuel shortage at our power station
in The Cove. Following their routine fuel level assessment on the morning of Sunday, June 7,
2026, our technicians confirmed that 64,248 gallons of fuel were available on-site. At no point did
fuel availability contribute to the outage or delay restoration efforts.

As we continue our commitment to building a stronger and more resilient electricity network
through strategic investments in infrastructure upgrades, enhanced generation capacity, and
renewable energy integration, we remain focused on improving reliability and reducing the
likelihood of similar incidents in the future.

BPL remains on track to achieve its target of incorporating 30 per cent renewable energy into its
generation mix by 2030. Based on current project timelines, we anticipate achieving this milestone
as early as 2027 through the deployment of small solar farms and microgrids throughout the Family
Islands..