Video & BELCO Updates: Hurricane Restoration
[Updated] 27,431 customers lost power due to Hurricane Nicole – approximately 90% of the island — however BELCO crews immediately sprang into action, and have restored power to 15,661 customers as of this morning.
BELCO said, “As of 6:44am this morning 11,770 are awaiting restoration of their electricity service.
“Crews were able to restore 15,661 customers following the passage of Hurricane Nicole, working as soon as it was safe to do so during late afternoon and through the evening.
BELCO working last night in St David’s
“Today will bring further restoration of mainline and large branch lines, as well as smaller areas where repairs can be made relatively quickly.
“Approximately 600 customers who had service restored last night have subsequently lost power again, as is often the case during early restoration and damage assessment.
“BELCO offices will be closed today for cash payments and walk-ins. BELCO will honor discount dates of Wednesday – Friday October 12-14.
“At the moment it is not necessary for customers to call BELCO as engineers working in the control room can see the mainline circuits that are out and will initially focus on those. We need to keep phone lines open for any addition reports of poles damaged and wires down, as these are priorities.”
Update 11.44am: A spokesperson said, “As of 10:55 there were 9,353 customers without power, down from 11,770 at the beginning of the day. Crews are making good progress working to restore as many main lines as they can, as quickly as they can.
“It is fortunate that the weather is also cooperating with the restoration effort.
“During restoration, main lines have to be restored first as it is power from the main lines that flows through to the branch and secondary lines and to homes and businesses. If there is no power up-stream, there can be no power down-stream.
“When main lines are restored hundreds of customers have power returned. For customers who do not have their power returned with the restoration of the main line it normally indicates additional damage or issues closer to their neighborhood or home.
“During restoration it is sometimes necessary to turn power off to areas that had previously been restored in order make repairs further down the line. Also, as the system has weathered a significant storm, there could be damage that is not immediately apparent but later results in loss of power.
“Twenty main lines are still to be restored. Once all the main lines have been restored we will be asking residents who are still out to please let us know. In the meantime, engineers know what main lines are out and are targeting them.
“When power is returned to your home or business, bring your appliances and sensitive equipment back on-line gradually so you can be sure the service is stable. If you have partial power, turn off all the switches in your circuit breaker box and contact BELCO.
“Periodically check one switch that feeds a 120 volt outlet, such as a light or lamp, so you will know when power has been restored. If you have flickering lights, turn your power off at the Breaker Switch which will turn power off to the entire facility.
“At the moment BELCO has yet to assess the full extent of damage to the system and length of time for total restoration. Once all of the main lines have been restored we will be in a better position to let customers know what specific areas crews will target next.
“This would be a good time to also check with family, friends, neighbors and the elderly and if you have had power restored, offer them a shower, meal and some comfort.”
Update 11.50am: BELCO confirm they are now down to 7992 customers without power
Update 3.25pm: BELCO provided an updated on restoration efforts following Hurricane Nicole:
Update 5.00pm: A spokesperson said, “As of 4:48pm, 4,124 customers remain without power. This means approximately 80% of customers who lost power have now been restored. We expect all main lines to be restored by midnight tonight.
“Tomorrow’s focus will be on the isolated pockets of outages, of which we estimate there are approximately 1000. It is anticipated that we will be in a position to start posting where crews are working by noon tomorrow.”
Update 10.35pm: BELCO said, “Crews are still out working hard on restoration. At 9:44pm 4185 customers remain without power. Crews will be stood down no later than midnight tonight and will be back out at 7am.
“As mentioned previously once all main lines are restored the focus will move to addressing the isolated pockets of outages, which number approximately 1,000. We also expect to begin providing information on what areas crews are at work on by lunch time tomorrow.”
Update Oct 15, 11.27am: BELCO Restoration Schedule for Sat, Oct 15:
- EAST END: Wellington Slip Road, Cashew City, Ballast Point, Stokes Point
- CENTRAL: Devon Springs, Jennings Land, Ram Goat Hill, Shawwood Park, Northcote, Blocks Point, Boss Cove, Travelers Rest, Sunset Pass, Deep Bay Lane, Happy Valley
- WEST END: Tamarind Vale, Spice Hill, Heron Bay, Scaur Hill, Sound View Road, Scott’s Hill, Bob’s Valley
They will also have crews available to address any emergency situations that arise.
Update 12.14pm: Full statement from BELCO
As of this morning, 2,734 customers remain without power. All main lines were restored by 10:30 last night.
Crews will be working the following areas today:
EAST END: Wellington Slip Road, Cashew City, Ballast Point, Stokes Point
CENTRAL: Devon Springs, Jennings Land, Ram Goat Hill, Shaw Wood Park, North Cote, Blocks Point, Boss Cove, Travelers Rest, Sunset Pass, Deep Bay Lane, Happy Valley
WEST END: Tamarind Vale, Spice Hill, Heron Bay, Scaur Hill, Sound View Road, Scott’s Hill, Bob’s Valley
While these area have been scheduled for restoration today, additional personnel will be assessing damage to smaller isolated areas and making repairs where they can. We also have crews available to address any emergency situations that arise.
As restoration progresses, customers may experience intermittent outages, as main line circuits may need to be shut down for a short period in order to safely restore other branch or service lines. If this occurs, we recommend customers unplug any sensitive equipment that they are not using to avoid damage.
It is during this period of the restoration process that results are slower, as smaller branch lines and secondary lines require similar levels of effort to restore but bring on fewer customer than main line restoration. Main lines have to be restored first, as it is power from the main lines that flows through to the branch and secondary lines and on to homes and businesses.
We do not expect that we will get everyone back on today, but do expect to have a better idea later today or tomorrow as to when total restoration may be achieved.
When power is returned to your home or business, bring your appliances and sensitive equipment back on-line gradually so that you can be sure the service is stable. If you have partial power, turn off all the switches in your circuit breaker box and contact BELCO. Periodically, check one switch that feeds a 120-volt outlet, such as a light or lamp, so you will know when power has been restored. If you have flickering lights, turn your power off at the Breaker Switch which will turn power off to the entire house or facility.
We appreciate the patience of those customers who remain without power and continue our focus on getting full restoration complete as quickly and safely as possible.
Thank you Belco I felt blessed to have my power on last night when I was sure it was going to be at least a week before it came on!!!
Useleslly slow
Absolutely FOOLISH and irresponsible comment.
If I knew who you were, I’d tell them to NEVER service your butt.
Sarcastic.
Hats off to Belco for getting so many of us back on the grid so quickly. If you see a Belco truck in your neighborhood, stop and thank them for their efforts.
don’t just repair always.
put the cable , like in Hamilton , under earth and the problem is solved.
Umm I live on one of those lines, and guess what? As of 12:30pm Friday I still don’t have power
Just to update, it’s now Saturday at 3pm and me, on an underground main line, still without power
Gustav….that increases the bill. Anyway, that is not how the service functions.
Do your research.
There are other places in the world to dash to.
Thanks Belco for you dedication and hard work. I am one of the 11,000 without power but I see how hard you worked last night getting people up and running. That is amazing and pure dedication to your job.
thank you.
I’d be purely dedicated if I got all that overtime. Guess they wouldn’t get it if cables were underground, eh?
My power is still out as of 2pm Friday now. I’m on an underground line…
As much as we complain about them, BELCO staff certainly have earned praise during these times.
The men and women who are out in the field, they work hard and do a good job. That hasn’t changed over the years.
Question, why do we automatically heap praise on Belco for restoring power after a hurricane? Bermuda has the highest electricity rates in the world, shouldn’t we correspondingly expect the highest level of service?
Are we getting the highest level of service?
Because gratitude.
Yes, but apparently some of us expect more.
Yes, I would consider 90% restoration in just over 24 hours of a major hurricane the highest level of service.
Thank you BELCO!! You’re doing a great job. (Most of) Bermuda appreciates you.
WOW! Knocking them down quick! The BELCO guys really step up when the pressure is on.
This was no Fabian. Some were 6 weeks without power after that one.
I have to add my praise to the Belco workers.
I figured we’d have at least a couple of days without which has been usual in the past. But no, power back last night. It was a wonderful surprise.
To those complaining, it’s been barely a day, cut them some slack, they didn’t create Nicole.
Can I get my power back please? 3.47 PM
Belco needs an outage map with updates on those affected areas. Facebook and Twitter are not acceptable ways of communicating to customers. We pay some of the highest rates in the western world for electricity and we demand better response from management. Much respect to the men and women on the streets and in the air Getting customers back online, whilst away from their families and loved ones during and in the immediate aftermath of the hurricane. Much respect..,
People love to complain. BELCO you are the BEST!!!!I was jumping for joy when I saw BELCO truck at 10:00 p.m. last night in Ferry Reach!!!
LIGHTS ON!!!!!!!!
I think your lost. Half of Ferry Reach still has no power. I actually find it odd that you come into neighborhoods restore half and leave. Thats a recipe for mistakes and that happened. Hell, I called Belco they were estatic to say Ferry Reach was on. dis not even know half were still out. How does half a drive way have lights Belco? How do you leave CoEd on generator? Shouldnt that be a priority? How the hell the airplane markers still out?
Yeah, good job working backwards Belco
Well done Belco but I know I am always in one of the small pockets who have to wait to the very end….always….it really would be nice to have us smaller pockets up front for a change…
And how exactly do you expect you’d get power back on if they didn’t first fix the problem ‘upstream’?
For the sake of clarity what JS is saying is not about ‘upstream problems’
In the aftermath of Fabian my entire area , main road and surrounding neighbourhoods , were all back on 2 days later .
My small 3 residence lane served by a single offshoot line , was still down three and a half weeks later .
That’s frustrating !
Naturally what BELCO lines crews are doing is bringing all the large blocks back on as fast as possible .
This is not an ‘upstream problem’ it’s a numbers issue .
THANK YOU BELCo Staff !!!!!
Please come, we are always the last ones to get electricity. It doesn’t even have to be a storm and we lose power.
BELCO has done it’s best.. Job well done crew!!!
Thank you belco you guys are definitely made my evening!
Fairvale Lane, just off Ord Rd, is still out. Everyone around us is up. Please check us out!
I guess all the people that are sending kudos to Belco are the ones that have their sweet electricity burning brightly.
I on the other hand spend most of the day every day looking out of my window in the hope of seeing or hearing a Belco crew.
Right now all we can hear are the bikes coming off the hill on S Hill in the early hours and crashing into the lines left in the middle of the street.
I put three poles underground on private estate road…bwlco looked at how much on adverage i saved them in wid repair and thanked me…at my cost.
It saves hundreds of thousands in response and repairs.