The Dominica Electricity Services Limited (Domlec) says that it has put measures in place to ensure that upcoming national events during the independence season will not be interrupted as a result of power outages. For the past few months, residents and businesses have been grappling with frequent power outages, or “load shedding,” that have plagued the island, which stems from inadequate power generation capacity, coupled with an aging diesel generation fleet and equipment that the company has relied on for 37 years.
With key events on the horizon, Domlec’s Chief Operations Officer (COO), Dave Stamp, has affirmed that scheduled maintenance will be suspended during this crucial period to uphold a continuous power supply in areas where the events will be held. He also highlighted Domlec’s concerted efforts to ensure the availability of currently unavailable units for this period, guaranteeing that they remain operational without any interruptions.
Furthermore, Stamp indicated that the company will be strategically placing leased units to cover specific event locations such as the stadium and fringe event areas. They are implementing careful load management to prevent these areas from being affected in case of any unforeseen issues.
While Domlec is actively working to resolve the ongoing load-shedding situation by year-end with external support from a generation consultant from St. Lucia, a technical team from Venezuela, and by leasing additional generation, a concerning issue is the decreasing water levels at the Freshwater Lake, which could exacerbate the problem.
“This is really, really, really bad. In my entire time here in Dominica and Domlec, this is the lowest I’ve ever seen the lake,” Stamp stated. “The Lake is below five meters. The lake and the hydro production is below 1/3 of its capacity and falling.”
Stamp expressed his concern about the lake’s water level dropping if the country does not get any rainfall, which would require the hydro unit’s complete shutdown to preserve the lake’s resources.
Meanwhile, in response to increasing complaints of equipment damage during load shedding, Daryl Dalrymple, Domlec’s Engineering, Transmission & Distribution Manager, advised customers to use surge protectors for sensitive equipment to mitigate potential damage.
“We know what’s happening now we know we have that loading shedding going on, it’s published. So one of the things that you can do, particularly if you know that we’re going to do some load shedding, you can switch off some of your sensitive equipment,” he said.
“Your fridges, etc. wouldn’t really get damaged if it’s just normal load shedding. But the sensitive equipment, it’s always advisable that you get some form of surge protection for your sensitive equipment,” the company’s engineer added.
For her part, Bertilia McKenzie, the company’s General Manager, encouraged customers whose equipment had been damaged to visit their Roseau or Portsmouth branch to file a claim for compensation. She noted that the company will try to shorten the process, as they “do not want to put an additional burden on the customers.”
Customers who wish to make a claim for compensation for damaged equipment or appliances are encouraged to call 275-7540 during normal working hours. Mondays 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Tuesdays to Fridays 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Since domlec has caused Dominicans immense pain and stress, the company or government (whoever owns domlec) should provide every legitimate household with a gas powered generator as soon as possible. To be clear, I say “legitimate” household, because Dominica now looks like Cape Town in South Africa and those shanty towns in Haiti 🇭🇹. These types of fowl Coobs are not included. Dominica is a very dark place and it’s living up to its name. Darkness is Sin and a Curse. Thieves love darkness.
For those who should know better, “get some form of surge protection” is vague.
Surge protector manufacturer Eaton states: (https://tripplite.eaton.com/products/surge-protector-buying-guide)
“Choose a surge protector with a joule rating at the very least in the 200 to 400 range. Sensitive or costly equipment, such as computers, displays and audio/video equipment, warrants a joule rating of at least 1000. A joule rating over 2000 indicates maximum protection.”
The typical surge protectors sold in Dominica don’t even state joule ratings, and to my personal experience react too slow to protect appliances from the high voltage spikes (dv/dt) when DOMLEC “take lights”. Importing your own surge protectors is very costly with included customs duty. Since DOMLEC is co-owned by the government, they’re just urinating on us and telling us it’s rain.
Five more years….Dominica nice boy…..
This Domlec mess defies comprehension. This is basic forecasting and budgeting. Which begs the question: exactly what does Bertillia do? Isn’t that part of her mandate to bring this information to the board and demand what she wants to run an efficient and effective utility?
I know in Dominica is is difficult to get a job as cushy as that, but anywhere else that would be enough to cause the GM to resign in protest. If she cannot get the funds to run the company properly, she is another paper pusher who just goes along for the ride.
Let me read the tea leaves that Dave presented us. Domlec is going to not schedule power cuts in areas where activities are scheduled for the upcoming cultural events. However, other areas will as a result experience more frequent and longer duration power cuts. Maychanstay!!. What consolation is this when the brutal heat is still on? Think about the sick and the elderly who are forced to endure this oppressive set of circumstances for longer periods of time and more frequently. The old equipment is really old, 37 years old. Domlec should reach out to Cuba for assistance in keeping this derelict junk equipment going as they have expertise in keeping their utilities working despite the loooong US embargo. Domlec should also make some surge prorectors available to consumers free of charge as buying these is a further burden on consumers. Can you imagine that at a time when Dominica boasts of $billion budget and resilience this is what we have to endure? Damn!!.
This is the a ploy by DOMLEC to calm the fears and disquiet of the outraged, suffering citizens. If DOMLEC were to compensate every customer for their damaged appliances caused by the frequent electrical outages, it would not even have money to purchase fuel for generation or pay its employees.
Life in Dominica is like a shipwrecked sailor on a small boat that is being battered and tossed about by the turbulent seas. Dominicans have literally surrendered the country to the cult of a conman.
DOMLEC – The power to destroy your home appliances and decalay you better.
Also, phase out the old equipment that you had mentioned where parts were obsolete. That creates too many vulnerabilities that is not good for the grid.
Are the folks at Domlec so clueless that they need outside help to solve a basic problem?
As a patriotic Dominican, I will offer some advice FOR FREE.
1. Make the assumption that the lake will dry up and there will be zero hydro power from that source.
2. You must know your current consumption.
3. Assume consumption will increase by x% per year. You must have charts that show the growth over the past 10 years or more.
4. Knowing the above, buy/lease diesel/solar/wind generators that will fill that need for the next 10 year. Do that now.
4. In 3 years, reassess the demand and compare that to your supply to see if your assumptions are correct. If they need adjusting, do so.
5. After you have reviewed your demand/supply curves, employ more generating capacity to meet the next 10 years.
6. If down the road geothermal comes on line, do another review and adjust accordingly.
It took me less than 5 minutes to provide a very concise report to get you out of the mess you created.
Reimbursements for damaged appliances is one thing, but it is insignificant against the loss of production time and income for businesses. For that, DOMLEC will not compensate.
Incidentally, the mechanical issues faced by DOMLEC could have been eased by upgrading the Public Works Machine Shop and developing bona fide apprenticeships for mechanical engineers. This I suggested to government almost twenty years ago. Instead of which, they closed Public Works down.
When DOMLEC need replacement bearings boring to an accuracy of 0.0004″ for their Portsmouth generator, they depend on me doing the job. But like their generators, at the age of eighty and can’t be expected to go on forever. My next job may well be fixing the hinges on the pearly gates.