<p>The Belize Electricity Limited is assessing the cause of a power outage this morning that reportedly damaged a number of its customers’ equipment and household appliances. The outage occurred shortly before nine and a spokesperson from BEL’s Public Relations Department says that the city-wide outage lasted for only 20 minutes. However, it did result in damages particularly to computers according to Elizabeth Ross, the Business Development and Marketing Director for Intelligent Solutions, a company that specializes in computer database and software. Ross added that many times damage to equipment can be avoided.</p>
<p><b><i>ELIZABETH ROSS, Business Development and Marketing Director, ISL</i></b></p>
<p><b><i>“People that don’t have their computer plugged into UPSs, you frequently experience severe damage to the computers. We have had calls and we are out checking computers; the most important thing I can tell the public now is to make sure that your computer is plugged into a UPS where it will prevent the power surges to your computers.”</i></b></p>
<p><b><i>MARION ALI</i></b></p>
<p><b><i>“Some people use outlets that they deem or they believe are what they call the surge protectors but they aren’t really. How can you tell when a damage is done if they were using one or not?”</i></b></p>
<p><b><i>ELIZABETH ROSS</i></b></p>
<p><b><i>“On the surge protector you will be able to tell by the amount of current that it actually went into the system. So, if you are using a surge protector in theory when the surge comes in, it should cut the power and it doesn’t affect the computer; if you’re using a UPS that allows the back up, it absorbs the surge, reduces the power and it allows it to continue on to your computer without damaging it.”</i></b></p>
<p>The damages can range from replacement of fuses or fans to total losses.</p>
<p><b><i>ELIZABETH ROSS</i></b></p>
<p><b><i>“Sometimes, all it does is blow out the power fan like on a standalone computer; a power fan is like a hundred and sixty dollars to replace plus the labor. It could fry your motherboard and your whole computer and so, the cost of the UPS or a power strip, surely offsets the difference including appliances and TV’s and stereos. It is important to use surge protectors particularly when we have the brown outs and a surge is as bad as a brown out because when the power drops too low that will also cause damage as oppose to having too much surge come through.”</i></b></p>
<p>A surge protector costs roughly $26 dollars while the UPS costs around 200 dollars. That piece of equipment, Ross says, costs very little in the end as opposed to having to fix a damaged computer. She adds that the utility provider should be able to control the surges but she wouldn’t hasten to say that in this case.</p>
<p><b><i>ELIZABETH ROSS</i></b></p>
<p><b><i>“The utility company should be able to control the brown outs and what’s going on but sometimes things happen beyond anybody’s control; they should be able to control the brown outs; I don’t know the details of this current power outage so it is hard for me to point fingers.”</i></b></p>
<p>Ross says that ISL has received around 20 complaints of damaged computers. BEL mean time, has not yet been able to definitively say what was the cause of the outage. The malfunction occurred at BEL’s Mile 8 gas turbine system. That is also where a previous outage at around three thirty on Sunday afternoon originated. In that case, the over two-hour long outage affected the western and southern portions of the country.</p>
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<p><b><i>ELIZABETH ROSS, Business Development and Marketing Director, ISL</i></b></p>
<p><b><i>“People that don’t have their computer plugged into UPSs, you frequently experience severe damage to the computers. We have had calls and we are out checking computers; the most important thing I can tell the public now is to make sure that your computer is plugged into a UPS where it will prevent the power surges to your computers.”</i></b></p>
<p><b><i>MARION ALI</i></b></p>
<p><b><i>“Some people use outlets that they deem or they believe are what they call the surge protectors but they aren’t really. How can you tell when a damage is done if they were using one or not?”</i></b></p>
<p><b><i>ELIZABETH ROSS</i></b></p>
<p><b><i>“On the surge protector you will be able to tell by the amount of current that it actually went into the system. So, if you are using a surge protector in theory when the surge comes in, it should cut the power and it doesn’t affect the computer; if you’re using a UPS that allows the back up, it absorbs the surge, reduces the power and it allows it to continue on to your computer without damaging it.”</i></b></p>
<p>The damages can range from replacement of fuses or fans to total losses.</p>
<p><b><i>ELIZABETH ROSS</i></b></p>
<p><b><i>“Sometimes, all it does is blow out the power fan like on a standalone computer; a power fan is like a hundred and sixty dollars to replace plus the labor. It could fry your motherboard and your whole computer and so, the cost of the UPS or a power strip, surely offsets the difference including appliances and TV’s and stereos. It is important to use surge protectors particularly when we have the brown outs and a surge is as bad as a brown out because when the power drops too low that will also cause damage as oppose to having too much surge come through.”</i></b></p>
<p>A surge protector costs roughly $26 dollars while the UPS costs around 200 dollars. That piece of equipment, Ross says, costs very little in the end as opposed to having to fix a damaged computer. She adds that the utility provider should be able to control the surges but she wouldn’t hasten to say that in this case.</p>
<p><b><i>ELIZABETH ROSS</i></b></p>
<p><b><i>“The utility company should be able to control the brown outs and what’s going on but sometimes things happen beyond anybody’s control; they should be able to control the brown outs; I don’t know the details of this current power outage so it is hard for me to point fingers.”</i></b></p>
<p>Ross says that ISL has received around 20 complaints of damaged computers. BEL mean time, has not yet been able to definitively say what was the cause of the outage. The malfunction occurred at BEL’s Mile 8 gas turbine system. That is also where a previous outage at around three thirty on Sunday afternoon originated. In that case, the over two-hour long outage affected the western and southern portions of the country.</p>
<p> </p>
View the full article