Sort power outages in Nevis or go home, says Daniel

Last updated: November 6, 2017 at 16:57 pm

A former deputy premier of Nevis has called on the island’s utilities minister if he’s unable to rectify “constant electrical outages”.

Hensley Daniel, who was a senior member of the Nevis Reformation Party (NRP) administration, said that anywhere else in the world the minister would have been fired.

Speaking to Freedom FM, he said his party would get a grip on the situation, which he says causes an average of 40 outages per month – which sometimes go off up to five times a day for around two hours.

“The large number of outages is not good, especially as no explanation from the government has been given to the public,” said Daniel.

"The Nevis Reformation Party provided a regular supply of electricity when oil was about US$140 per barrel. Now oil is about US$50 a barrel and we can’t get a regular supply of electricity daily.”

There has been no official response from Minister of Utilities Alexis Jeffers, and the current administration is yet to respond to his claims.

‘Premier – or public – must send him home’

Daniel believes that the island should be able to generate this amount as “it is not a large amount of electricity.”

“The NRP will continue to pursue renewable energy including geothermal and wind to improve the islands electricity supply,” he said.

“Unlike the Concerned Citizens Movement that purchased generators that obviously cannot manage the electricity situation on Nevis, the NRP will work hard to provide a regular supply of electricity to the residents of Nevis.”

Training and recruitment of electrical engineers, mechanical engineers and computer engineers will be undertaken to bring end blackouts, he added.

“Since the minister is not able to deliver regular supplies of energy which is fundamental and critical to the livelihood of the residents then he should to go home.

“And if the Premier will not send him then the public must send him home.”