BEL Explains San Pedro Power Outage

San Pedro Town experienced a power outage on Sunday evening after a transformer owned by Belize Electricity Limited (BEL) failed near Ramon’s Village Resort shortly after 6:00 p.m. Locals reported hearing what sounded like an explosion.

Cause of the Outage

BEL confirmed that the blackout was caused by a hardware failure on the overhead section of the 34.5 kV sub-transmission line supplying electricity to the island. This line links San Pedro to the national grid through a mix of submarine, underground, and overhead systems.

Backup System Failure

The San Pedro Gas Turbine, normally used as a backup power source, could not be switched on due to its dependence on the damaged transmission line.

Challenges in Restoration

The company also noted that adverse weather conditions delayed recovery operations.

BEL stated, "the outage was caused by a hardware fault on the overhead portion of the 34.5 kV sub-transmission line that supplies power to the island."

"The San Pedro Gas Turbine, which typically serves as a backup, could not be activated because it relies on the same damaged transmission line," the company added.

Summary: The power outage in San Pedro was due to a transformer failure and affected backup systems, with weather conditions hindering timely restoration efforts.

Greater Belize Media — 2025-11-05