CUC has major set back, power out island wide

| 18/08/2021 | 38 Comments
Downed CUC power lines after TS Grace

(CNS) UPDATED 7:30PM: CUC reported a major set-back to its restoration efforts Wednesday evening, when the power went out island-wide around 6pm. Power had been restored to various locations earlier in the afternoon but officials said that during the restoration effort a fault emerged which created grid instability resulting in loss of power to the entire island.

“The CUC team is working to get generation back on line in parallel with field repairs on the Transmission and Distribution system,” officials said, adding that a further update will be provided at 8:00 pm.

Earlier post:

Power restoration work has started across Grand Cayman and CUC said that some customers have already had their power restored. Customers in some areas of George Town, along the West Bay Road, the Seven Mile Beach area and parts of Rum Point now have electricity. Officials from the power company said that crews were initially prevented from carrying out assessments across the island and start the restoration process with the challenges of the weather, particularly the sustained heavy winds. But the restoration and assessment process is now fully underway.

Four of the company’s feeders remained on during the storm, and seven are currently online, with more expected by 8pm this evening when another update will be released relating to the restoration efforts.

“It is anticipated that 60% of the restoration will be completed tonight,” a CUC spokesperson said. “The CUC team members will continue to work late into the night in order to facilitate the restoration for the remaining customers by tomorrow. There are a number of poles which have been damaged and these will have to be replaced before electricity can be safely restored.”

CUC asked motorists to be cautious on the roads, as crews will be working on poles across the island. CUC would also like to remind pedestrians that wading through standing water is dangerous.

Customers are also encouraged to monitor the outage map on CUC’s website and on social media platforms.


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Category: Business, utilities

Comments (38)

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  1. Anonymous says:

    Underground vs Pole Power

    Underground is more expensive, and harder to fix if it gets flooded or physically broken. But less prone to damage by wind storms and Hondas. So while we can’t afford (the monthly CUC bill) to put all cables underground CUC & CIG could put in some underground trunk routes paralleilng the above-ground main lines to increase redunandancy. There will be storms like this one where the poles may go down but the underground trunk remains intact, reducing the time needed to restore power. In a Cat5 when both are damaged just ignore the underground and take the faster option of restringing the (new) poles.

  2. Anonymous says:

    Still no power in parts of Prospect and its past 3 pm.
    Thank you Water Authority for keeping the water on!

  3. Anonymous says:

    There was a golden opportunity after oven to bury cables and we would be without all these issues, all the big developments grand harbour, crystal yacht club g]have underground services if only cuc could have had the forsite to put them in. it would have made the island way more resilient for the global business we a\want to attract..

  4. Anonymous says:

    Thank you CUC !

  5. Anonymous says:

    Some words of comfort – our chat groups in our district were amazing. We can’t walk but we can communicate with each other and check on each other. We kept one another up to date and empathized with one another. All is not lost. I still have faith in my fellow neighbors.

  6. Anonymous says:

    Can someone please explain what these “feeders” actually are and where are they?

    • Anonymous says:

      Feeders are distribution circuits that provide power from the substations to customers. They are like the trunk of a tree, with the branches being taps that come off the main feeders and run down side roads to individual homes.

      There are also transmission circuits that connect substations to substations and main generation. If the power to any substation is lost, all the feeders from that substation also lose power, as do all the taps that branch off from the feeder(s).

      • Anonymous says:

        Many thanks for this. So in my simple terms the switches inside the substations like at the rear of Burger King on West Bay Rd.

  7. Anonymous says:

    CUC and water Authority services are very commendable. Any one can recall how CUC teams restored our power section by section. Water Authority provided us safe water very quckly. Same now. Hats off to you all

    • Anonymous says:

      Yeah, we just lose power on fair weather days. The water authority never had to lift a finger so what should we be commended them for?

      • Anonymous says:

        You go out there and do it then. Ungrateful. At least we’re able to have power and water, many people don’t.

  8. Anonymous says:

    I don’t care what CNS thinks about shouting – THANK YOU CUC!

    • Anonymous says:

      Couldn’t agree more. They head out into treacherous conditions and start the process long before the all clear. Hurricane Sandy taught me that we move faster and respond more effectively than the US or indeed the UK to hazardous weather conditions. Thank you to the well trained, experienced team at CUC 🙏🏽

      • Anonymous says:

        Indeed couldn’t agree with you more. We are lucky to have what is probably the best power company in the world, if not definitely the best in the Caribbean. I live in the middle part of the Island, lost power at 5:00 a.m. and it was restored by 10.00 p.m. We are like a small town in the U.S., which if they had gone through the weather system that we had it would probably be weeks before power would be restored to anyone.

      • Anonymous says:

        It may be a bit easier to head out when temperatures are in the 80’s than below zero with heavy snow and ice. Sometimes roads need to be plowed before trucks can even get out to fix the wires. Where I live, we at times get over 2 ft of snow and then a layer of ice which takes down the trees/ wires which are in dense wooded areas.Kudos to all who do this type of work!

        • Anonymous says:

          You might want to consider other options,

          • Anonymous says:

            That’s why my 3x a year trips are so important. Open the border please!!! Fully vaccinated. Will stay away from all. Just want to warm up when winter hits. :-)))

        • Anonymous says:

          As I said Sandy is a prime example. It was during the summer. It took NY years to recover. Parts of the US still haven’t recovered. With Ivan in a year you didn’t even know a hurricane had hit us.

  9. Anonymous says:

    Prices higher than ever, restoration of power taking longer than ever. Makes perfect sense, right?

  10. Anonymous says:

    How many peoples bills in the last 2 months have doubled ??? My guess more than 60 percent on the island. Do we have any response than pay it. In my opinion no. We have a cat 1 hurricane come close to us and we are nearly i. The same situation as after island. Press statement says we were restoring power but we found a problem within “our “ equipment ‘ so u the client must just accept’. I don’t have children but I can only imagine what a family is going through right now with a new born. CUC prob don’t care

    • Anonymous says:

      Maybe is was your tree, planted too close to the power lines, that caused the instability now that the branches are down on the wires causing them to short. Even in large communities these issues occur after a severe weather situation.

    • Anonymous says:

      Um they the only power supply on the islands? What else are we to do?? Cuc run us we dont run them.

  11. Anon says:

    Does anyone know if any gas stations plan to open this evening?

  12. Anonymous says:

    Any ETA on west bay?

  13. Anonymous says:

    Just drove around GT area and no trucks in sight. Where are all these crews?

  14. Enough says:

    I know no one with electric, even those that had it during the storm are now dark. Putting a fraction of CUC’s bloated profits into infrastructure should be required from our monopoly power provider.

    • Anonymous says:

      Then we all have to pay when their system gets trashed as they don’t carry insurance. As customers we pay through all our orifices either way while CUC keeps raking in the profits. Can’t go partially off grid and bolster your own power requirements even if you wanted to. CUC mafia and their OfReg gate keepers make sure the status quo is maintained. What a racket.

    • Harley45 says:

      Duh. Cuc builds their T&D system to be resilient with stronger poles, multiple circuit breakers, SCADA to monitor and enable remote operations, underwater cables from GT to WB and North Side to provide transmission loops and many other enhancements because they cannot depend on out of state assistance from out of state at short notice. This resilience is built into the rates to give you 99.95 or better service. Lower rates means less reliability. Which do you prefer?

  15. Powerless says:

    On for 3 minutes off for hours.

    • Anonymous says:

      Same. On for twenty minutes, off for three hours. On for one hour, off rest of night.

    • Timmy says:

      Thank you CUC. I got power restored before midnight.

      Thank Hazard Mgt and the entire CIG.

      I was one of the critics of the Regiment. But after seeing their performance yesterday I am a fan.

  16. Anonymous says:

    This is probably the only private sector company that I have any faith in.

    I wish to thank all of the emergency services including the regiment for their work over the past 24 hrs.

    Now we see why the regiment brought in special made trucks. Zzzzzzzzzzzz. Wake up folks.

    • Beaumont Zodecloun says:

      Yours seems an honest and fair opinion.

      Part of being prepared in the hurricane season is being prepared for power outages. I enjoyed the cool breeze after the storm passed.

      Long ago, we used to walk from house to house and check on each other after a storm. I’m sorry that time seems to have passed. For what it is worth, we went to our neighbors and checked in on them.

      Now more than ever, we need to stick together, regardless of nationality. A politician said, “we’re all in the same boat” at the start of Covid, and I thought to myself, “no. We’re in the same sea, but your boat is vastly different than mine.” Now I see things differently. It’s a huge boat that we’re all aboard.

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