VINLEC needs to communicate promptly, says PM Ralph Gonsalves

Following a sudden island wide electricity outage lasting for just over four hours, on Sunday June 2, 2024, Prime minister, Dr Ralph Gonsalves has suggested that the St Vincent Electricity Services Limited (VINLEC), needs to find a way to promptly communicate with its consumers when such issues arise. The Prime Minister spoke about this at a press conference yesterday, June 3, 2024, at which he addressed a range of issues.

The outage occurred around 6:30 p.m Sunday, and power was restored around 10.45 p.m. VINLEC explained in a release issued on Monday, June 3, 2024, that the outage, which was island-wide on mainland St Vincent, was as a result of “a switch gear issue” and that its technical team worked assiduously to ensure the restoration of the electricity supply to consumers.

Hospitals, airports and other high priority areas were among the first to have power restored, while electricity was restored island-wide at approximately 10:45 p.m.

Additionally, Dr Gonsalves has called on people to avoid spreading rumours that the blackout was caused by the testing of lights at the Arnos Vale Playing Field ahead of the ICC Men’s T/20 Cricket games slated to begin at that venue on June 13, 2024.

“…for those trained in mischief, man stop this foolish thing nah,” the PM commented.

He clarified that on Sunday, the last light was installed, and testing had been scheduled to begin between Monday and Tuesday “…so it could not have been any cause of the switch gear issue…and, I think they would start testing them, certainly, on the generators.”

Searchlight has learnt that testing of the flood lights began yesterday morning, June 3, 2024.