Public Relations Officer of DOMLEC, Adina Bellot-Valentine has said that vegetation was main factor which resulted in damages suffered by the company during the passage of Tropical Storm Chantal on Tuesday.
“One of the factors that caused major damage was vegetation,” she told DNO in an interview. “There was a number of trees falling on lines all across the island and that is something that we have been talking about for some time.”
She pointed out that tree clearing has been very costly to the island’s sole power provider and this should be tackled in a “collaborative effort between the land owners and DOMLEC.”
Bellot-Valentine also revealed that land owners often do not co-operate with the electricity company and refuse to have trees on their properties cut despite the fact that they receive compensation.
“We give notice to land owners that we intend to cut down a tree or certain vine that is affecting the line however the land owner can object and that is where the IRC has to come into play because we need to be able to control trees and shrubs on the line in order to provide effective and efficient service,” Valentine noted.
She noted that when trees fall on the line, this affects the entire system.
The PRO pointed out that as a result of Tuesday’s storm four high voltage and five low voltage poles were broken, three distribution lines fell, one broken high voltage line and one insulator got damaged. According to her a cost estimate cannot be given as yet since members of staff were still on the field assessing damages.
“There are still crews out working on some areas that are still without power at this time. We are hoping by the end of the day power will be restored,” she said.
Areas still without power according to the company’s PRO are Felicite an area near Laplaine, Dubique, Stowe, Bagatelle, and Layou Park.
THIS IS SO BAD
all the old post they have all over that should be change, they not doin their jobs but quick to take people money,
DOMLEC start changing the post that’s shaking before a serious hurricane comes… there is one in the goodwill area, so long they has to come change it.. they start but fail to complete… what a bunch of idiots
So if that problem is persistent why hasn’t someone thought of placing the high power supply below ground as is done in soooooo many other countries?
that they need.. headache.. we having a headache with them and that amie system every month…
Bury the power lines!!!!
Aren’t you one of those who complain about the high cost of power in Dominica? Some of you people are so daft, it is not even funny.
What Mrs. Valentin must consider is that, Domlec don’t give fare share of the tree that was cut, they always find a way to cut the cost by half.
DOMLEC needs to be more honest with the people. From my experience it is not easy to receive compensation from DOMLEC when they cut trees on your property. DOMLEC came to my property cut a breadfruit tree then told me that I could not be compensated because the tree was interfering with the lines.
DOMLEC has crews for tree pruning but they need to ensure that they do their job right and not just laze around when they need to be working. The managers and supervisors need to go out on the field a little more often so they will have a better idea of what need to be done. Stop relying on monthly reports. They do not always tell the full story.
poor excuses,have the government intervene.
They don’t want to have headaches ? who in this world don’t have headaches ? Mothers gives birth to their children and have headaches for life, electricity is their baby and they want the Dominican people to have the headaches for them ? Spend the dam money all you making on us and take care and solve all you problem and stop complaining, we need the vegetation . Update all you system DOMLEC run the cable under ground .
in this day and age domlec should start looking at putting their cables underground in the event of a storm or hurricane there should not even be the need to cut power supply put the transformers in concrete sheds so that we can be up and running in hours after a passage instead of weeks and days..just saying
Grand fond seem nt to be a place since it was not mentioned in the list and nothing whatsoever was done the yesterday. Apparently we are on the back burner
vegetation is a headache,,,,,,well this is the nature isle my friend and if you make me the manager of domlec i would divert $500,000 of your profits to clear all around the cables and in turn create jobs and cut costs by been pro active,,,this is the caribbean,we have storms and hurricanes,,,maybe if you stopped thinking only of profit you would do what as to be done,,,,my number is 80808080 so if you want your headache to go away ,,call me i will be the manager
Please admin. Felecite IN LA PLAINE
but they don’t come and try to clear their poles from weed and what not anyway -_-…they only come check when it’s taken over completely
We;; Domlec going to do what they do best…another surcharge. continued management by crisis.
We are in the process of “think-tanking” solutions to this ongoing problem.
One of the options we are looking into is the feasibility of underground conduits. Preliminary reports indicate that long-term savings over short term expenditure will be extremely favourable.
All we need now is public opinion, debate, and input.
This is a good idea
We have too much underground water. I’m not sure underground conduits is a good idea for Dominica.
This initial cost will come from where?? Your profits I imagine! And every time a line needs repair, the cost of digging up the roads and resurfacing them and other associated cost will be billed to whom?? Your profit, I imagine!
It’s over two years I am telling DOMLEC about a coconut tree and an almond tree that is affecting their line and needs cutting. They are not on my land but will affect DOMLEC’s line and leave the area with no electricity if heavy winds blow them down, so I cannot understand what the PRO is saying.
Cable and Wireless has lines touching my roof and my guttering, I am fedup of calling them. These lines were not there when I built the house.
DOMLEC should make every effort to avoid installing poles on private property.I’m Dominican,and i know in some areas it is impossible to do otherwise. However DOMLEC must make tree prunning an integral part of its operations.Please give timely notice to land owners of the companys’ plans and don’t wait for couple days before a storm.As for your excuse about vegetation,remember you’re talking about Dominica.Land of vegetation, rainfall,infact nature at its best.LOVE MY COUNTRY.
The DOMLEC company should be pruning trees on a as needed schedule but not fell trees.
you right, dey waiting for hurricane season to do it…greedy company
All well and good to blame it on trees, but Domlec also has to address the problem of aging, bending, unstable and rotted poles. Its not hard to spot and assess these. It would be interesting to get a report on how many of these are addressed on an ongoing basis and whether Domlec is satisfied with its pole replacement policies. We know that there are thousands of poles on the system but proactive deliberate, adequate work must be done for system security up to certain windspeed and to help play its part in “disaster Preparedness”, mitigation is super important!
Could not have said it better
Domlec to dam cheap they need to continued taking care of their poles rotten poles all over the Island they are so far lucky that somebody haven been killed by one of them why do the land owners have to assist them financially Domlec is taking all the profit back to Barbados keep up with the vegetation where I live once a year the electric company inspect all their pols and where branches need trimming it is done
that is what is good for domlec…. more poles should have fallen once no one is injured in the process… let them spend a lot of $$$$
That is a stupid, stupid, stupid thing to say. Any cost that Domlec incurs gets supplemented by it’s users.
Some of you are just sooooo daft that reading your comments could possible make me, a master’s holding PHD presuming person, dumb as rocks.
The picture does not match the story. It shows domlec pole breaking a fence and most likely affecting water. The story should be that “domlec poles causing headache.”
Domlec must have problems with vegetation control because they have no respect for people’s properties. Sometimes they fail to advise landowners when installing poles. I had a real fight with Domlec when I intended to build because they had their pole on my land and their stay which is a wire was in the middle of the land.
They must have problems …so long we told them to come and cut some trees that is over the line up to now I have not seen them. They probably want me to incur the cost. Well at the end of the day someone has to spend at some point…..