B.E.L. tries to cope with Mexican power cutoff

There’s good news and bad new tonight from Belize Electricity Limited. The good news is that despite the cut off of Mexican electricity caused by a plant failure, B.E.L. has been able to cope with the emergency without resorting to widespread blackouts. The bad news is that the Mexican current is still not online and B.E.L. may not be able to cope for much longer. At five-thirty yesterday evening the third turbine at the Mollejon Hydro station came back from routine maintenance and this, along with B.E.L.’s eight diesel units, enabled the power company to scrape through the six to nine p.m. period of peak demand without load shedding. There is no slack left in the system, however, and as dry season water levels in the Macal continue to drop, B.E.L. is being forced to bring in rented high capacity portable generators from abroad. Although it is believed that the problem in Yucatan will soon be fixed, B.E.L. cannot afford to take chances. In the meantime consumers, particularly business and industrial concerns, are being asked to conserve as much as possible, particularly during peak hours in the evening.