Over 32,000 DOMLEC customers remain without power

New information from power company, DOMLEC, reveals that 32,762 of its customers remain without power after the passage of Hurricane Maria a little over two months ago.

The company has a total of 35,606 customers and a total of 2,842, or 7.98 percent, have received power.

In Roseau, 1,350 customers have been connected to the grid while the number in Portsmouth stands at 1,492.

The company’s infrastructure was severely damaged or destroyed by the hurricane.

DOMLEC has said that all customers in Dominica will have access to its grid to facilitate reconnection by April 2018.

 

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25 Comments

  1. Caesar Bonventre
    December 8, 2017

    Emera Inc., a Canadian company (and their dozen shell companies) has been charging excessive fees for Dominican electricity. Those high costs have kept businesses from moving into Dominica.

    They have an insurance policy that pays out in case of hurricane!

    It says so on their SEC filing!

    [Personally, I don’t even understand WHY DOMINICA IS PAYING SOME OFFSHORE ENTITY FOR ELECTRICITY in the first place!? It is Dominica’s water in the hydroplant; Dominicans paid for the hydroelectric construction! It belongs to Dominicans!]

    Why won’t the Dominican government put more pressure on them to get the job done?! They have an insurance policy that paid out on this catastrophe!

  2. Mr.Mashup Intl.
    December 6, 2017

    I think we are leaning on the negative too much or perhaps the delivery of this story should be revised and redelivered maybe Domlec should give the linear footage and number of poles they have replaced since they started working and also further explain a lot of places are indeed electrified but the onus now is on the people to have there buildings re-certified and inspected thus giving the green light(no pun intended) to have those buildings powered up again .

  3. Let The Truth Be Known - Original
    December 5, 2017

    I can understand the frustrations of Dominican residents who do not yet have lights. No electricity; no TV, no phone – landline, no internet, no washers and dryers which you have grown accustomed to. Your home entertainment is now nil and without electricity you are unable to do some chores and also cook. In view of all this your patience is being tried. I hope you are managing as best as you could.
    Consider the devastation of Hurricane Maria. This was no little devastation. Do the houses not have to be well-equipped to get electricity? There is a reason for the delay. In any case it is only two months since Hurricane Maria struck Dominica.
    DOMLEC is doing its utmost to restore electricity. DOMLEC is losing money in the meantime since these customers have no electricity. Try your best to be patient.
    When I feel impatient, I pray, “Lord, please grant me patience. Please help.” It works. A prayer to that effect will also help.

    • Caesar Bonventre
      December 8, 2017

      Emera Inc., a Canadian company (and their dozen shell companies) has been charging excessive fees for Dominican electricity. Those high costs have kept businesses from moving into Dominica.

      They have an insurance policy on it!

      It says so on their SEC filing!

      [Personally, I don’t even understand WHY DOMINICA IS PAYING SOME OFFSHORE ENTITY FOR ELECTRICITY in the first place!? It is Dominica’s water in the hydroplant; Dominicans paid for the hydroelectric construction! It belongs to Dominicans!]

      Why won’t the Dominican government pressure them to come immediately to fix things?

      I think without government pressure, things will stall during the drawn-out bureaucrat processes between DOMLEC to EMERA

  4. Dowad
    December 5, 2017

    Domlec,your projection,seems very farfetched. It’s been nearly three months and you’ve only energized almost eight percent ,how on God’s earth will you energize another ninety two percent in four months? Absurd!! Skepticism. Another page from Skerit book of lies. No wonder Dominica is hurting so hardly at the hands of this evil regime.

    • Dominican
      December 5, 2017

      You fail to understand what they mean. They are not saying that all customers will be reconnected by April, they mean that every community will have access to the electricity since all poles and lines would have been fixed by then. By April, everyone can get re certified then go into DOMLEC to request reconnection to their home or business. Did you really think they would connect every home, school, business etc by April?

  5. Jayson
    December 4, 2017

    Hats off to DOMLEC management!!

    If only our GOVERNMENT and the other utility companies were as transparent with information as DOMLEC has been!!

    Thank you DOMLEC for being truthful and telling it as it is!!!

  6. Shameless
    December 4, 2017

    Though DOMLEC is in the private sector, they are behaving like a government institution. Skerritism has crossed over in every segment of our society. No vision, no thinking outside the box in my country :twisted: . It seems like Bad-willed is running this company if you ask me :mrgreen: :mrgreen: . At that rate the April date is BOGUS.

    Now, if DOMLEC is serious they would to places like the Philippines and Haiti for highly qualified skilled folks at low wages and bring them in (now they know 8) 8). They can also call in former and retired employees at a reasonable cost.
    STOP behaving like the police Chief who at the snap of his fingers could get hundreds of our former police officers in the diaspora to come in and help for free if asked. All he has to do is get Blackmore and Skerrit approval and write up a procedure on who / how to deputize them. Policing is a “local” thing and they know the ropes. SMFH!!!

    Assertive like LL! :twisted: :twisted:

  7. Anonymous
    December 4, 2017

    Reading today that 20,000 of the remaining citizens are to receive emergency cash. I doubt people like that will have the money to spend on electricity. A lot of our people wll remain unconnected or try to connect illegally. Domlec is not a charity.

  8. Zammm
    December 4, 2017

    If such figures are true, Domlec I’d moving very very slow. By now Domlec, should have had sign big contracts with power companies around the Caribbean and Columbia. It was the Columbian who worked on the east n south east and most definitely the best system. Dominica needs a 1000 strong team for dat job. Sorry but that’s way above lil Domlec… Bring in the big Sadelme company..
    PM help us please

  9. Is me and I alone
    December 4, 2017

    If DOMLEC knew they had to pay their customers that are without power every month from their profits, I guess by now 75% of customers would have power. But this is Dominica where we make no demands so DOMLEC works at their flipping pace. In Florida where I reside a class action suit was put on FPL, days after Irma, by customers and FPL had to use their profits to ensure customers got power much sooner than the time FPL had previously announced. But again this is Dominica where we accept a lot of Bull poopoo and instead of putting pressure on Domlec, customers will defend them and say Puerto Rico, St. Martin, USVI are not any better. No wonder Skerrit doing so much nonsense and some how so many defending him instead of putting pressure on him to do better.

    • MadeIn D/A
      December 4, 2017

      I still don’t see your point comparing a Place like united states. You do know that power companies sent their employees (and equipment) to Florida in the thousand if you listen to the news. to help restore power. The other thing is Florida did not have half the damage the Dominica sustain. yes I would like to see things work better, Puerto Rico who is supported by the United states still in the dark. If you doh like Skerrit say that I will feel better about that. Also stop hiding behind DNO comment get up and get out and make a difference for your country. This forum you words are pointless.

      • Yo Yo
        December 4, 2017

        Puerto Rico is supported by the USA, Dominica is supported by and soon to be owned by Chiney, so I don’t see your point. Dare I mention the support Dominica has from Iran, Greece, Russia, the nice man Monfared, Ng, darling Alison, boy my fingers getting tired now writing the amount of support Dominica, sorry Dr Punjab have compared to Puerto Rico.

      • Paul Rossnof
        December 4, 2017

        No you would not see his/her point because you are one of those people who are quite happy with the status quo in Dominica as well as mediocrity. Businesses and people in Dominica should not measure themselves on the likes of Haiti or some poor African countries but rather on the likes of the USA or Europe.

      • Is Me and I alone
        December 4, 2017

        @ MadeIn D/A you just confirmed what I just said. You see your silly argument? No wonder Dominica cannot go anywhere with people like you. I can’t understand why you all making excuses for DOMLEC man. Every year they have been reporting big profits and FYI they are a Florida based company. Dominicans should put pressure on them so they in turn could hire our young men that are unemployed, in every community to go did holes and plant poles and even run cable where necessary, so their technicians could concentrate on doing the technical aspect of it. But with people like you with that plantation mentality, Dominican will go nowhere. No wonder is DOMLEC that told customers from day one, that they must retest and be certified whether their property was touched by Maria or not. So they putting their pressure instead of the people making their demands on them.

      • Give dem a break
        December 5, 2017

        Thousand of people in Puerto Rico are still in the dark. Whoever you are….you doe understand the level of damage Domlec’s infrastructure got? …EH?…have you driven around the country for you to see??? NO I GUESS NOT….so shut your………___________

    • UKDominica
      December 4, 2017

      You can lambast Domlec all you like but the fact remains that it is 49% locally owned with our own Social Securiy being the largest local shareholder so a lot the profit generated stays in the hands of Dominicans. If one includes the corporation tax it is not such a bad deal for government. And imagine all the diesel they buy from Reggie & Roosevelt’s oil company on top?

    • You Sot
      December 6, 2017

      Instead of America making you smarter it seem to make you more sot! How dare you compare Dominica with America. Shame on you! Wearing your ignorance like a badge of honour.

  10. Is me and I alone
    December 4, 2017

    If there was another power company in Dominica to compete for customers, like Flow and Digicel, I believe over 90% of customers would have power

    • Give dem a break
      December 5, 2017

      Yes because you will bring down all your robots from Florida to connect them. ………!!.

  11. Peace
    December 4, 2017

    DOMLEC, I want to give you guys some credit for the work that has happened so far. I know that many of your staff and engineers have been working long hours since Maria and I thank them, but at some point we have to reevaluate the effort. We cannot rebuild a country if its citizens have no electricity for so many months. If you guys need outside help, then nothing wrong with getting it (Note: you did make several millions and millions in earning over the past years). Please don’t send people back to the dark ages. You can and must try harder.

  12. G
    December 4, 2017

    while i am thank full to all Domlec workers for their efforts, how ever they really need to step up..
    its already been two months. They boast millions in profit yearly. so why do they still have 97% of the country without light. there are still places in the capital without light.

  13. Confused Reader
    December 4, 2017

    These figures can be misleading. “The company has a total of 35,606 customers” but how many of them are ready and certifiable to receive electricity. So many buildings are still without roofs. I think it would be much higher than 8% if you only consider who is even able to be energised at this moment.

  14. Progress
    December 4, 2017

    At that rate, I don’t see how DOMLEC can realistically make that April 2018 deadline that they are promising. We already in December and at 7%, are they planning on getting an influx in staff or outside help?

  15. Wayne
    December 4, 2017

    So are we saying the figures quoted in the daily briefings are incorrect or just bltrnt lies?
    April 2018 is far to long to wait for service especially when there was assistance from other countries!

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