BEL Announces Scheduled Power Interruptions due to Temporary In-Country Generation Shortages and Curtailment of Supply from CFE

Belize Electricity Limited (BEL) hereby informs our Customers that we are currently implementing scheduled power interruptions in various service areas throughout the country over the next 24 hours.

Daily electricity demand levels have varied between 85 MW and 125 MW throughout the day over the past few weeks, while in-country generation capacity is currently a maximum of 95 MW. This means that BEL is currently dependent on supply from Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE) in Mexico to meet demand for a significant portion of the day. CFE normally supplies up to 55 MW of capacity to the grid. However, we have received communication from CFE regarding challenges they are facing in sustaining the energy supply to our network, and they have advised that they may have to curtail energy supply to Belize throughout the next 48 hours.

BEL is, therefore, preparing to address the impacts of the resulting supply shortages that may arise throughout the day: Starting at 10:00 a.m. this morning, load shedding will become necessary for various sections of the country to effectively manage the available energy supply. Areas likely to be impacted in the first instance include portions of Orange Walk. In the early afternoon, load shedding is expected to impact portions of Corozal, San Ignacio, Dangriga and Independence.

Load shedding is a controlled process of temporarily reducing electricity consumption across different areas to ensure the stability and continuous operation of the national electricity grid.

Load Shedding Schedule May 2, 2024

10:00 a.m. Portions of Rural Orange Walk

11:00 a.m. Portions of Rural Orange Walk

12:00 p.m. Portions of Rural Orange Walk

1:00 p.m. Portions of Corozal, San Ignacio and Dangriga

2:00 p.m. Portions of Corozal, San Ignacio and Dangriga

3:00 p.m. Portions of Orange Walk Town, Corozal, San Ignacio, Dangriga, and Belize, Independence, and Punta Gorda

4:00 p.m. Portions of Orange Walk Town, Corozal, San Ignacio, Belize, Belmopan, Independence, and Punta Gorda

5:00 p.m. Portions of Orange Walk Town, Corozal, San Ignacio, Belize City, Belmopan, Independence, and Punta Gorda

6:00 p.m. Portions of Corozal, Belize City, San Ignacio, Belmopan, Independence and Punta Gorda

7:00 p.m. Portions of Rural Orange Walk, Rural Corozal including Free Zone, Belize City, Ladyville, Belmopan, Dangriga, Independence, and Punta Gorda.

8:00 p.m. Portions of Rural Orange Walk, Rural Corozal including Free Zone, Belize City, Ladyville, Belmopan, Dangriga, Independence, and Punta Gorda.

9:00 p.m. Portions of Rural Orange Walk, Rural Corozal including Free Zone, Belize City, and Ladyville and Dangriga

10:00 p.m. Portions of Corozal Town, Belize City, Ladyville and Dangriga

11:00 p.m. Portions of Corozal Town, Belize City and Independence

As we had earlier informed Customers, our gas turbine at Westlake on the George Price Highway, which is one of our major backup power sources, is being upgraded and is currently out of service. This generating unit is scheduled to be brought back online early next week. We are also installing a gas turbine in San Pedro which should be completed by the end of May. Together, these additional generation sources will put us in a much better position to meet demand over the next 12 months even if supply from CFE is curtailed.

We thank our Customers for their patience and understanding and assure our Customers that we are making every effort to maintain safe, reliable, and sustainable energy supply to all service areas countrywide.

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