Discover Lucelec > Operations

Generation | Transmission and Distribution | Administration

Lucelec is in business for the people of St. Lucia. We are working hard to build for the future - staying ahead of demand, increasing safety and reliability, introducing the most efficient, state of the art technologies available. We are striving for better communications with our customers to respond even better to their needs.

Generation

The Generation Department is charged with the responsibility of producing a reliable and cost effective supply of electricity for the citizens of St. Lucia . The department operates a modern computerized generating facility, namely the Cul-de-Sac Power Station which houses seven generators with an available capacity of 55.6MW. An eighth generator is currently being installed at that facility. This additional unit will bring the available capacity to 65.8MW and will reinforce the ability of the Power Station to meet the demands of the customers on the island.

During the year 2004 the department was able to achieve high levels of performance from the installed plant. A total of 308.54 million electricity units were generated during 2004 as compared with 298.98 million in 2003, an increase of 3.2%. A new system peak demand of 46.6MW was recorded on October 26, 2004 at 18:30 hours, whereas the previous peak was 44.9MW in 2003. The overall plant fuel efficiency for 2004 was 38.54%.

There are three main sections within the Generation Department, namely Operations, Maintenance and Garage Services. The Operations section ensures the safe and efficient running of the generators, and all existing equipment in the station. The section is staffed with Shift Operations Supervisors and Shift Attendants who rotate on an eight hour shift basis, twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. A computerized distributed control system is used to monitor and control plant operations.

The Maintenance section has the responsibility of maintaining all plant at the facility. This maintenance is done in conjunction with approved practices and recommendations from the equipment manufacturers. There is also a computerized maintenance management system which facilitates the tracking and planning of all maintenance activities. A team of experienced supervisors, mechanics, electricians and technical clerks combine their efforts to ensure the continued long life and excellent service of the plant.

Garage Services maintains the fleet of about 60 vehicles which are ever present in the community attending to problems and providing supplies to new and existing customers. The section is staffed by the garage supervisor and his team of experience mechanics.

Transmission and Distribution
    | T&D Performance Overview for 2004

In 2004 the Transmission & Distribution Department (T&D) continued to improve its performance in almost every critical area.

In the area of system reliability, performance exceeded the target of 14.75 hours not taking into account the island wide blackout which occurred in October. This is a remarkable accomplishment when it is noted that currently no work is undertaken live. Towards the end of 2004 T&D completed the final phase of training to allow some staff to be able to work on transformers live as it has been recognized that to continue to meet requests for new supplies in a timely manner and limit outages for such works, some level of live line work must be undertaken. This it is expected will have a significant impact on further improving system reliability.

The company's performance in system losses (10.2%) in 2004 was outstanding and almost 13% better than the company's target. Some of the initiatives that contributed to this achievement are:

• Investigations into irregularities in consumption patterns highlighted by Billing and a meter inspection programme leading to many cases of tampering and faulty meters being identified.

• Expertise in the area of metering is now maturing. It is now very unlikely that metering/wiring errors made in the past will be made now. Such errors resulted in significant lost sales.

• The continued improvement in system power factor.

• The billing of the GOSL for street lamps taking into consideration the lamp losses.

While performance in the area of customer service continues to improve as confirmed by a recently conducted survey, this is an area where we can do better, particularly in being more responsive to all forms of requests.

Extensive works were undertaken in illuminating communities and major and minor roads throughout the island, which will continue in 2005.

From all indications there has been an improvement in the attitude towards safety in T&D however it will always remain a challenge to get the safety consciousness amongst contractors to the levels expected.

Administration

Lucelec is committed to improving customer service and reducing the cost of operations in all areas of the company.

Currently all customer enquiries, requests and payments are handled at the Company's Administration offices in Castries, Rodney Bay and Vieux Fort. Payment transactions can also be conducted at a number of banks and Credit Co-operatives islandwide. In the very near future, the Company will launch an automated telephone inquiry service, which will allow customers to receive 24-hour account information at a time of their convenience.

The company utilises the IBM iSeries eServer, one of the most advanced computer systems available today, and a specialised software module for its billing operations. This enables us to effectively manage over 50,000 customer accounts. Computer facilities have been greatly expanded throughout the company, providing all operating centres access to the information they need to manage efficiently in an increasingly demanding environment.

All employees are required to have a formal qualification for employment, and almost 10% are professionally qualified to degree level. There is an in-house training capability for all but the most skilled professional needs. There is a continuing focus on the need to prepare for the future and all the company's training programs place a high priority on this.