Amid a recruitment drive designed to attract new workers, the BVI Electricity Corporation has promised to “raise its game” after facing challenges in recent months.
The BVIEC’s billing system was knocked offline for more than two months due to an August cyberattack, and the utility has also come under heavy criticism for its speed in responding to weather events including Tropical Storm Ernesto earlier the same month.
But last Thursday, BVIEC General Manager Neil Smith said the power supplier is adapting to changing times as the public becomes more discerning and “less tolerant” of problems.
‘Raising our game’
“I think that you can say we will be raising our game,” Mr. Smith said during a press conference launching a career expo planned for Nov. 29 at the utility’s Long Bush headquarters. “We are hoping that this is actually happening. … We are hoping that it’s raised already.”
A ‘very sexy job’
Talking up the expo, which will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Mr. Smith called for residents to apply for the “very sexy job” of linesman or lineswoman.
“These guys and girls — we have lady linesmen — [are] individuals who have to have a technical mindset,” he said. “And they also have to be fairly physical, and also they all have a type of approach where they are slight daredevils.”
The BVIEC, he added, is hiring in various positions as part of its effort to match rising demand.
“From a customer-service standpoint, sometimes the customers have to be without service for too long, and we need to change,” he said. “We have a process of continuous improvement.”
Mr. Smith added that the corporation has expanded rapidly.
“When I was in BVIEC a decade or two ago, we had less than 10,000 customers,” he said. “Right now, we have about 17,000 customers. Servicing those 17,000 customers is less than 20 linesmen, less than ten mechanics. That is a strain on them. We have a process of continuous improvement.”
He added that the employment expo, which is to be attended by Premier Natalio “Sowande” Wheatley and other senior officials, will be an important moment for the corporation.
“We know that the people of this country deserve the best,” he said. “We need to have a solid BVIEC operation system. We need to have a grid that’s reliable; that power stays on.”
