BEL Explains San Pedro Power Outage

San Pedro Town experienced a power outage on Sunday night when a transformer owned by Belize Electricity Limited (BEL) malfunctioned near Ramon’s Village Resort after 6:00 p.m. Residents reported hearing a loud noise resembling an explosion.

Cause of the Outage

BEL confirmed the blackout was due to a hardware failure on the overhead section of the 34.5 kV sub-transmission line supplying power to the island. This specific line connects San Pedro to the national grid via a network of submarine, underground, and overhead infrastructure.

Backup System Failure and Weather Impact

The backup power source, BEL’s San Pedro Gas Turbine, was unavailable because it depends on the same faulty transmission line. Additionally, adverse weather conditions hindered the repair and restoration process.

BEL stated that “the outage was caused by a hardware fault on the overhead portion of the 34.5 kV sub-transmission line.”

The company also noted that bad weather delayed efforts to restore power.

Despite the challenges, BEL is working to resolve the issue and restore electricity to San Pedro as quickly as possible.

Author’s summary: A transformer failure and adverse weather led to a power outage in San Pedro, with backup systems unable to operate due to shared infrastructure vulnerabilities.

Greater Belize Media — 2025-11-05