LETTER TO THE EDITOR: “A little rain and a little wind, and light gone”

letter to the editorDear Editor,

Permit me space in your online news source to express some concerns I observed during the passage of Tropical Storm Matthew over Dominica’s sole electricity company, DOMLEC.

It appears to me that DOMLEC’s infrastructure is nothing to boast about. During its passage over Dominica, Tropical Storm Matthew was a relatively weak storm and having such large parts of the island without power should be a source of concern.

Now before I go on, I know I might get some flak. I also know that in times like these, power cuts are expected. I lived through Hurricane David and many other storms after that. So I know what the situation is like.

The point I want to make is this: how could so much of the island, practically the entire island, be left without power in such a minor storm?

I received word that the entire east coast was left without power on Wednesday morning even though Matthew was still hundreds of miles away from Dominica. As somebody told me over the phone, “a little rain and a little wind, and light gone.”

When power went in my area, the wind was hardly strong and the rain was not that bad. At that time, the storm was still in the Atlantic and was just being named Matthew by the National Hurricane Center. I soon learnt that the entire south coast from Delices to Castle Comfort was without power.

I later learnt that huge swath of the island, probably the entire island, except Roseau and environs and Portsmouth, was without power. It took DOMLEC more than a day to fully restore the commodity.

So, I come back to my point and questions I have. Is DOMLEC infrastructure up to par? If it cannot withstand such a minor storm, how will it perform if Dominica is struck by a major hurricane? How much is DOMLEC investing in its infrastructure?

The President of Dominica in many public speeches has said the island has one of the highest electricity rates in the Caribbean (I think every Dominican knows that), so are we getting value for money from such high rates?

Before I end, let me say hats off to DOMLEC’s crew for restoring the power. But it is my opinion that if the company had a more sturdy infrastructure, the power outages on such a magnitude in such a minor storm would not have occurred.

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23 Comments

  1. Ragga
    October 3, 2016

    You should come to live in the BVI, to see how fast they take the power as “a little wind and rain” start.
    Be thankful regardless, life is to short to stress over trivial matters.

  2. ThinkThinkThink
    October 2, 2016

    It is a sad day for a nation, when one can’t ask questions about how we can make improvements without being accused of “bad talking” their country! Do you all realize that nations, companies, institutions of all sorts HIRE and TRAIN entire departments to do exactly that? Entities that aim to properly serve their clients are continuously engaged in finding ways to provide better, faster service at a cheaper price.

    Mr. John’s questions weren’t stated with any malice. And, anyone who lives on island should be thinking the very same thing…how long will we be forced to go without electricity in the event of a terrible hurricane? Just think of the impact on businesses, hospitals, elderly or home-bound residents.

    Let’s stop behaving as if wanting better, and trying to figure out how to get there is a negative thing. I’m sure if DOMLEC announced it figured out a plan to reduce outages we’d all be rejoicing! Asking these questions are the first steps in that process.

  3. hmmmmmmmmmm
    October 1, 2016

    I found Domlec did an excellent job. A storm pass with 60+ mph winds and people expect to not lose electricity? come on!!!!If it was faulty equipment by the company fine. But we cant blame Domlec for trees falling onto powerlines. If one was to analyse, it is the areas without many trees which did not lose power. Namely Roseau aand environs and portsmouth. All the islands from st vincent, barbados, st lucia and martinique lost power island wide during the storm. So why would dominica with such difficult terrain and millions more trees not be expected to lose electricity. JEEZ!!!..

    And finally, I dont know under what rock or inside what castle you rode out the storm, but the winds were pretty darn strong!!!

  4. Marguerite
    October 1, 2016

    Just trying to think! Help me out please. Is there anywhere in the world that is able to prevent power outages during a storm? Whether big or small?

    Some of us too smart for our own good. Is like daaamn if you do, daaaaarmn if you don’t do. The kind of expectations we have on our little Dominica. It is who in the fire feeling it. I cannot even say travelling will help because it is in a bowry we having our heads, too busy bad-talking Dominica for us to even recognize and understand anything.

    Ehbeh look it.

  5. Concerned
    October 1, 2016

    Running cables underground is the way to go; it requires strategic thinking and taking the long view. The investment capital could come from Domlec’s declared profits, climate change funds, borrowing, & grant and loan money from numerous other bilateral and multilateral donors. This is no joke as these decisions should involve not just the company but the government, consumers, international donors and others; critical and analytical thinking and of course headship have to be applied. And while we are at it, a similar approach could be taken by DOWASCO as our water infrastructure has similar issues; perhaps its time that we consider sourcing our water from underground wells. Surface water is susceptible to the ravages of storms and other high risk climatic events and once we begin to think strategically about the perhaps safer alternatives we can do our country a great service. Do we have the vision and the bold leadership required or are we still mired in smallness and chandel moowi.

  6. Danziger
    September 30, 2016

    Nous Dominicans say LANGUE nous ki pourire, nous mayprixan et JALOUSY rend namme nous MALAYWAY.

  7. forreal
    September 30, 2016

    I tend to agree on some things you have said,,but in times storms the safety humans lives are made safer when power lines are dead,,so I would not hurt my head over that happening,,even if it’s a systematic inconvenience,because it sure does not bother our rootical people,,but I remember if my knowledge serves me right,,that their was some talk of placing the power lines underground after hurricane david,,,what happen to that suggestion or bright idea????

  8. Jaded
    September 30, 2016

    DOMLEC needs to separate its power grid into zones so that when there is a problem only a small section goes out at one time.

  9. Tjebe fort
    September 30, 2016

    Why don’t we put more of these line services underground? Even Roseau looks like spaghetti junction with all those wires dangling about. That makes us really vulneralble, besides it looks damn ugly.

    • zandoli
      September 30, 2016

      And who could afford to pay their electric bills if Domlec ran cables underground in that unforgiving terrain you spoke of? Do you think they could use mechanized equipment to run those subterranean cables all over the island?

      Sometimes I have to shake my head when I read stuff on DNO.

    • Real possie
      September 30, 2016

      Fort that’s well and good, am willing to give five hundred U.S. how much are you willing to give to bury the lines under ground? This has to be taken in stages, and not on a holistic approach. They said that’s one of the things that will be done in town, am guessing it will branch out after. PS after Sandy in NJ if you went up on RT 130 in Jamesburg all their lines was down no power for months, they replaced them and not burried them. Oh and this is the great America.

      • Malgraysa
        September 30, 2016

        Not everyone lives in the U.S.A., nor is that country always no. 1 when it comes to development. Most developed countries in W. Europe have their utility lines (except H.T.) buried underground. Go and visit the U.K., the Netherlands, Denmark etc. We should not always be guided by U.S. standards. Many countries are ahead of them in many aspects.

        PS With regard to contribution:
        – Domlec charges you heavily for installing poles and wiring on your property with ownership reverting to them after five years.
        – I have put all utilitity lines connecting my premises in Dominica underground at my own expense.

    • Joe
      September 30, 2016

      Come Tjebe and put it for us *****!!!! all you can do is criticize no action!!!

  10. real possie
    September 30, 2016

    Dear editor, in Antigua on a sunny day their power is out mostly half the day on any given day. What is the cry that after a storm the power in DA is out? The power company was sold for peanuts under one of the governments of the past, we have investors now who has to be paid for their investments, unlike DAPEX who pays nothing to their investors for years DOMLEC can’t be that brazen and do the same. We as a people have to understand of the island we live on.

    • Caribbean National
      October 1, 2016

      True, i live in Antigua too and they cut electricity even when a storm is South Caribbean and not affecting Antigua. Plus Electricity Prices are high there. Dominicans need to live elsewhere for them to understand the woes other islands have before cry down our own system which others can’t match up to.

      DOMLEC works much more efficiently than APUA.

  11. Visceraangel
    September 30, 2016

    Isn’t all the praying restoring the electricity?

  12. SD
    September 30, 2016

    Your points Sir, are valid. However, there are many things that are often missed or forgotten even when such a valid point is raised. Our Island. Don’t matter how much we love it, is Difficult terrain. What might be a little rain or wind can always be magnified in Dominica due to our mountainous Island.
    Everything in Dominica comes tumbling down, Trees on high ground will feel the effects the even the gentlest wind, then they come down, land slides down, river rolls down with boulders and trees. Sometimes we overlook what we have for a terrain like ours without realising how difficult it really is.
    Lastly, who will pay for the infrastructure upgrade? I doubt DOMLEC makes enough of a profit (even from the rates) from it’s expenses (Gas, Oil, Man Power) to really re-invest back into infrastructure. Personally, I marvel at how we manage to get electricity, water and even Cable in some of the places people live.

    • Dorival John
      September 30, 2016

      Who is going to pay for the upgrade? DOMLEC of course.

      Do you know DOMLEC makes millions of dollars of profit every year? Don’t you read the news here on DNO? The manager of DOMLEC once said she makes no excuses for the millions in profit being made by the company.

      https://dominicanewsonline.com/news/homepage/news/business/update-domlec-rakes-in-over-14-million-in-profit-for-2014/

      https://dominicanewsonline.com/news/homepage/news/business/domlec-rakes-another-8-million-profits/

      Notice the rise in profit over these two reports.

      Yet you saying DOMLEC doesn’t make profit. You must be living under a rock.

      • Tjebe fort
        September 30, 2016

        And the Dominica National Petroleum making even more money out of the diesel they selling Domlec instead of selling it cheaper as Chavez intended so we could reduce our electricity bill. Where is all that money mr. Skerrit and mr. Austrie.

    • Having Fun current & retroactively
      September 30, 2016

      We had a jayhe wind Instru would say in his time and a Parche rain. Minister of Communications 95-2000 in the annuals of d/can political speech history the Castle Bruce minister Skerrit, Rayban sunglasses and Groovy bat now and back when he read news at 1:15 pm. 95-2000. They are in a class of their own with the English. Some even have degrees lol am certainly LMAO loud.
      These guys make life interesting.

  13. derp
    September 30, 2016

    such a minor storm hmm, certain areas got much stronger winds than others and in certain communities it has SMART PEOPLE who put fire in tree trunks causing trees to be hollow, which results in tress falling on power lines…

    • My two cents
      September 30, 2016

      Knowing the rugged terrain of Dominica, over the years one would have thought that CDC/Domlec would have invested in running subterranean power lines.

      Safety for employees and residents alike.

      • zandoli
        September 30, 2016

        And who could afford to pay their electric bills if Domlec ran cables underground in that unforgiving terrain you spoke of? Do you think they could use mechanized equipment to run those subterranean cables all over the island?

        Sometimes I have to shake my head when I read stuff on DNO.

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