Press Release – Belize Electricity Limited – At 2:46 p.m. yesterday, power supply was lost to the national grid. Work crews were dispatched to the field immediately and identified a burnt crossarm on the 115 kV transmission line in the vicinity of San Estevan Village in Orange Walk as the cause of the power outage.
Power supply was restored to sections of Belmopan, San Ignacio, Belize City and Ladyville within 25 minutes to one hour; however the system collapsed again at 3:57 p.m.
By 4:42 p.m. power supply was restored to Dangriga, Independence, Punta Gorda and sections of San Ignacio, Ladyville and Belmopan; by 5:08 p.m. power supply was restored to Orange Walk and Corozal; by 6:23 p.m. power supply was restored to Belize City and at 8:13 p.m. power supply was restored to San Pedro Town.
In addition to mobilizing work crews and equipment, BEL also had to carry out repairs to a malfunctioning switch at the Buena Vista Substation.
BEL work crews completed replacement of the burnt crossarm at 7:30 p.m. and while in the process of restoring the transmission line between Buena Vista and Maskall, power supply was lost to the national grid at 8:00 p.m. Within 17 minutes power was fully restored to all parts of the country. BEL continues to investigate the cause of the burnt crossarm.
BEL apologizes for any inconvenience caused by these outages. For more information call 0-800-BEL-CARE (0-800-235-2273).
