St Lucia’s huge outage baffles until squeaky truth emerges

St Lucia experienced an island-wide power outage last weekend, which the island’s utility provider has officially attributed to an unexpected source: a solitary rat.

The St Lucia Electricity Services Limited announced that the blackout was caused by an “unexpected fault” that occurred on an 11 kilovolt breaker within the Cul-de-Sac electricity network. According to the company’s preliminary investigations, this fault was initiated by a rat interfering with the 11kV breaker on May 1.

The vermin’s interference immediately triggered the utility’s automatic protection systems. These systems are designed to prevent significant damage to the equipment, which ultimately resulted in the total shutdown of the island’s electricity grid.

Fortunately for residents, the blackout was relatively brief. Following system checks and inspections, power restoration began less than an hour later, with electricity progressively returning to customers across the island.

LUCELEC issued an apology to its customers for the inconvenience caused. The company reassured the public that it remains committed to delivering safe and reliable service, and will continue to invest in infrastructure and system protection for St Lucians.