At least nine schools were dismissed early as an unspecified problem at the Trinidad Generation Unlimited (TGU) plant at the Union Industrial Estate, La Brea, caused power outages across the country yesterday.
At mid-afternoon, T&TEC corporate communications manager, Annabelle Brasnell, said power was restored to most areas. However, a delay in rectifying the problem at the power plant meant that some parts of east Trinidad were still without electricity.
With a capacity of 720 mega watts, TGU is the majority supplier of power to T&TEC. Traffic backed up in some areas as traffic lights came off. The power outage began around 10 am and for customers in Diego Martin it lasted for 30 minutes, although it fluctuated during the morning period in some areas.
In Biche, it lasted for approximately 90 minutes, two hours in Point Fortin while customers in Marabella waited for almost four hours. By 3 pm, a customer in Rousillac said he was waiting for a response from T&TEC as the power supply had not returned. A resident of Boos Village, Rio Claro, said her community was not affected.
At 2.45 pm, Brasnell said only customers between Five Rivers and some areas in Sangre Grande were awaiting a resumption of power.
“Most of the customers are back on. We only have the last set of customers in east Trinidad that are still out. We anticipate that they should be back on in about 45 minutes. TGU experienced some delays in rectifying the problem on their end so it has slowed down our restoration as well.”
She was, however, unaware of what was the problem at TGU. She added that while some schools may have been dismissed early, the commission received no negative reports of businesses having to close.
A contact at the Ministry of Education said the impact was minimal but resulted in four primary schools and five secondary schools around Trinidad being dismissed between 1.15 pm and 1.30 pm. School officials ensured meals were provided to the students before they left school.
An advisory from T&TEC, at noon yesterday, requested customers to reduce consumption of electricity as work continued to restore supply to customers. T&TEC requested customers who were on supply to reduce consumption to speed up the restoration process.
It suggested that switching off non-essential appliances/equipment, for example AC units, dryers or heavy equipment, would help in managing the load demand for distribution to more areas.