GOVERNMENT REMAINS COMMITTED TO ASSISTING DOMLEC WITH POWER OUTAGES
Prime Minister Hon. Roosevelt Skerrit says Government remains committed to providing Dominica Electricity Services (DOMLEC) with the assistance needed to mitigate the current power outages across the island.
“I have asked the board to advise me on the actions that they are going to take to address the immediate challenges of load shedding and what are the recommendations and strategy for the medium term, albeit while we wait for the introduction of geothermal energy some years down the road,” PM Skerrit stated.
Prime Minister Skerrit says Venezuela will also provide a team of engineers to assist DOMLEC with immediate challenges.
“I met with the President of Venezuela on Saturday in Cuba, and I have, on behalf of DOMLEC, made a request of them for some support. They are in touch with DOMLEC directly from Saturday, moments after the meeting ended with the president, Venezuela has been in touch with DOMLEC. And it is the intention of Venezuela to send a team of mechanical and electrical engineers to Dominica on Tuesday, to assist DOMLEC in looking at the challenges that they have been having with a view of providing whatever support you will need to address the issue in the immediate term and the medium term,” he explained.
Prime Minister Skerrit says the issue of procurement of new generators also formed part of the discussions. He says government will assist DOMLEC with obtaining these generators to mitigate cost.
“We also discussed with the board and management of DOMLEC the issue of the procurement of new generators for DOMLEC to address the situation in the medium term, because I am sure the manager would tell you that some of the generators are old and therefore we need to address this matter in a systematic and constructive manner. we will assist DOMLEC in procuring generators because if DOMLEC were to procure those generators themselves there will be an increase in tariff , and an increase in cost for the consumers and we are trying to mitigate against that. And so the board will advise on what engagement it would like to have with the Government in assisting it in procuring these generators,” PM Skerrit added.
General Manager of DOMLEC Mrs. Bertilia McKenzie says DOMLEC is sourcing additional power on island.
“We are also going to bring on about three megawatts of generation from internal sources. DOMLEC has what you call interruptible agreements with some commercial customers, where we ask them to get off the grid. That is already in place and that is about half of a megawatt. We are going to extend that and we want to bring on very soon three megawatts of generation from using generators on island,” Mrs. McKenzie stated.