They began last month, several random power outages country wide which BEL (Belize Electricity Ltd) declared was caused by the Mexican energy supplier CFE curtailing the flow of electricity to Belize due to a surge in consumer demand in both countries caused by the heatwaves affecting Central America and southern Mexico. Belize consumes an average of 85 megawatts but during peak season that number can climb to 100, far exceeding the local supply provided by our own generators located in the central south as well as the imported amount. To make matters worse, a generator near Belize City is currently out of service due to maintenance which caused a popular tourist town to experience more than 12 hours of power outage last week. All of which led BEL to declare the commencement of load shedding, a series of scheduled power outages countrywide to reduce the amount of energy to consumers in order to avoid overloading the national grid. Unfortunately this week some villages actually endured more than 15 hours without electricity instead of the planned 2 hours as stated in the information sent via text to the residents of each respective region. This during sweltering 100°F + weather...
Needless to say, small business owners are perhaps the most affected. While big companies are scrambling to purchase large generators and solar systems, the little hole-in-the-wall stores in the villages simply brace themselves and hope against hope that their meats and frozen goods can survive the power outages, both the planned and unplanned ones, especially if the it drags on for a whole day, while an anxious husband and father in his small backyard carpenter shop lays down his tools and wonders if he can finish a project in time to pay the bills and buy groceries.