On January 28th, 2021, Bermuda experienced severe weather related to a winter storm with winds up to fifty-eight (58) miles per hour (mph) and gusts up to eighty-one (81) mph. Weather forecasters also predicted that Bermuda would experience hail and that conditions would ease by January 30th, 2021.
In the aftermath of the storm, the Bermuda Electric Light Company Limited (BELCO) provided an update on the electricity restoration efforts. The utility informed that the winter storm had caused damage to the distribution infrastructure across the island. Nonetheless, by the morning of January 31st, 2021, BELCO had restored power to all their customers.
BELCO has since executed two (2) planned emergency outages in the east end of the island, to address issues on an overhead distribution line. This was done to ensure that the distribution system could withstand the impact of future winter storms (another winter storm was predicted to impact Bermuda on February 2nd, 2021) or hurricanes as the season approaches.
BELCO President, Mr. Dennis Pimentel commented on the utility’s power restoration efforts: “On behalf of all our staff at BELCO, I would like to sincerely thank our customers for their patience and understanding as we recovered from the recent winter storm. Thanks also to our staff and road crews who worked as quickly and safely as possible to restore power in often challenging conditions. We’re preparing for the next round of weather on Tuesday and remain prepared and committed to providing the best service possible to our valued customers.”
The CARILEC Secretariat commends the BELCO Team for its extraordinary restoration of power following the passage of this winter. The Secretariat urges all CDAP members to remain vigilant as the upcoming hurricane season has already been predicted to be an active one, notwithstanding the threats of other natural disasters and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Source: CARILEC, 2021 (www.carilec.org); BELCO, 2021 (www.belco.bm)