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And while BEL tries to cobble together enough power sources to keep the grid up and running - it has to do so in a time of record demand.
A new record high for national electricity consumption totaling 127 megawatts was recorded last week - and another new record is expected in June.
The casual observer may call it days of wonderment - but for the ruling party - it is a political emergency - and the utilities minister addressed it today:
Michel Chebat, Minister of Public Utilities, Energy, Logistics
"The electricity demand is expected to grow to 135 megawatts in June, levels never before seen in our country. This prolonged heat wave and period of drought has brought the levels of the reservoirs of our hydro hydroelectric facilities to critical low levels."
"Mexico is committed to assisting us and we have the assurance that after the 2nd of June 2024, the supply from CFE will stay bills. And in addition, we have a commitment to extend the supply from CFE by 25 megawatts more."
"As a responsible government. We understand the need for Belize to attain energy independence and energy security. In this regard, we have been working with the PUC and BIA to add additional generation sources to our energy mix in the immediate term.:
"We will meet energy demands with the newly commissioned gas turbine at Westlake and the soon to be commissioned gas turbine in San Pedro by mid-June."
"We anticipate that the persistent loadshedding we have been experiencing will abate once the gas turbine in San Pedro is commission and the supply from CFE stabilizes in June."
