Brava: Mayor annoyed by frequent power cuts and asks the Government for speed in measures

According to the mayor, it has been fifteen days since Brava has been experiencing “a very delicate situation”, with permanent and frequent power cuts in different locations, mainly at peak hours, between 18:30 and 23:30.

This situation, according to the mayor, was aggravated last weekend, reinforcing that even the president's residence and the entire town were without electricity for more than 17 hours, complaints that extend to all other areas of the island.

The mayor recalled that, if there is no electricity, there will also be no water in Brava because the pumping is done completely by electricity, showing that the water has already started to run out in the taps of the people of Brava.

Faced with this situation, he said that he went to the Electric Power Station in Favatal and found that the situation is “serious”, justifying that of the four machines in this plant, only two are working and the two together are not producing 75 percent ( %) of the amount of energy needed to supply the island at peak times and for pumping water.

Francisco Tavares pointed out that, on this visit, he found that the two machines in operation had already been in operation for almost 15 days and were showing signs that they could suffer a breakdown at any time.

It is in this sense that he says he is “angry” since measures were not taken in time, taking into account that, in December 2022, the situation was similar and the island ended up living almost the entire month with electricity cuts.

“The problem was identified several years ago and the solution is the acquisition of a new generator set with the capacity to overcome peak electricity consumption, which is around 600 kilowatt-hours (kWh).

“Almost 10 months later, solutions have not been found and palliative measures have always been taken”, maintained the mayor, reinforcing that they have limited themselves to fixing the generators and now we are seeing the result of the “txapa-txapa” with the island being run the risk of running out of power entirely.

Tavares stressed that "it is necessary that the Ministry of Energy, together with Electra, move quickly towards the acquisition of this generator set for the island of Brava", reinforcing that "the entire island is affected by the lack of energy, lack of water and which clearly harms the fragile economy of the island”.

The mayor made it clear that his “indignation is already great”, justifying that, due to the precariousness and vulnerability of the generator sets in operation, they can break down at any time due to wear and years of service, which is already known of the Government and Electra for several years, but that measures are not being taken.