As we enter the final month of preparations before the start of the 2022 Hurricane Season, the Barbados Light and Power Company (Light & Power) continues to ready its teams and operations to safely respond to weather-related impacts.

“Preparation is paramount to keeping our employees, customers and all Barbadians safe during and after a major storm event,” said Light & Power’s Hurricane Coordinator, Johann Greaves.

“We continually invest in reliability improvements throughout the year, storm-hardening our system to ensure greater dependability as a utility for customers. We work from a detailed Hurricane Preparedness and Response Plan that is updated before every hurricane season to ensure that leaders, teams and critical employees understand their respective roles. This year, we once again have the added complexity of COVID-19 to factor in, which means, among many considerations, ensuring adequate supply of sanitation products and incorporating distancing practices to the extent possible while undertaking post-storm damage assessment and response.”

Significant storms and hurricanes result in outages, and Light & Power urges customers to be vigorous in their preparations at home including ensuring any needed repairs to roofs, storm shutters and doors are undertaken, and that sufficient non-perishable food, drinking water, medicines and a well-stocked first aid kit are on hand. With COVID-19, supplies should also include facemasks, gloves, hand sanitizers and disinfectant wipes to protect against the continued spread of the virus. Now is also a great time to go outside and note the pole number closest to you. This will help the Company with its restoration effort in the event of a weather system.

“Customers can expect to hear more from us during this final month of preparation, and then as Hurricane Season gets underway,” added Mr. Greaves. “As is our practice, we’ll monitor weather threats and, when a storm is forecasted, we’ll engage our plan which includes timely, relevant communications via social media and radio. If you aren’t already following us on social media, I urge you to do so to ensure you receive the latest updates throughout the coming months.”

Light & Power has engaged with CARILEC, the Caribbean Electric Utility Services Corporation, and its Emera Inc. affiliate utilities in the region to ensure coordination and support in the event of a significant weather event. Experts are predicting a more active than usual hurricane season for 2022 and anticipate there will be 19 named storms.

As a responsible utility we understand the importance of advanced and detailed preparation and will continue to put in the work to ensure we remain poised for this year’s active season.