Hurricane Elsa resulted in about 90 per cent of St. Lucia Electricity Services Limited (LUCELEC) customers losing power at the height of the severe weather. 30 per cent lost power as a result of distribution system faults. The other 60 per cent lost power when the 66 kilovolt (kV) transmission lines tripped at various points during the storm and when two generators at the Cul De Sac Power Plant tripped due to sudden reductions in system load.
At this point, the damage assessment has not been completed, so details on any damage to electricity infrastructure are not available.
LUCELEC will attempt to restore some of the transmission lines that tripped remotely. Inspection teams will also assess the transmission lines in two areas that have shown up as having faults. Once the 66 kV transmission lines have been reinstated, those feeders not registering faults will be re-energised to begin restoring power to customers.
Among the areas without power are the two hospitals and these will be prioritised in accordance with LUCELEC’s restoration protocols.
LUCELEC crews and contractors will work assiduously to restore power as safely and as quickly as possible.
Customers can call the following numbers to report localised faults: 452-2165 for the north of the island (from Cap Estate to Dennery) and 454-6617 for the south of the island (from Praslin to Bouton). Due to the volume of calls, customers may experience some delays in connecting with our Trouble Call Operator. LUCELEC has therefore made available the following numbers that customers can send fault reports to via WhatsApp: 285-6796, 285-7859, 285-3593, 285-3329, 728-9754, 728-9755, 728-9756. Please provide your name, a contact number, the location of the fault and the type of fault.
LUCELEC apologises to its customers for the inconvenience caused by the outages and thanks them for their patience while we work to reenergize the system.
LUCELEC will provide a further update later.
*UPDATE WAS MADE AT 5:45P.M.