Power company services Sister Islands

District Commissioner Kenny Ryan, Deputy District
Commissioner Ernie Scott, Chief Engineer
Royce Dilbert, Hon Minister Kurt Tibbetts, General
Manager Jonathan Tibbetts and Chief Petroleum
Inspectorate Gary McTaggart.

Friday,  September 2, 2005

Cayman Brac Power & Light Co (CBP&L), which first brought electricity to the Brac in 1960, has been supplying Little Cayman for the past fifteen years.

Operations started on the smallest Cayman Island in March 1960, after several years of planning, with just two members of staff – Leathan Martin and Raymond Scott. Now the plant on Little Cayman has a staff of seven, bringing the total number of staff at the power company to thirty-two.

“Electricity is available throughout the Island. We have five Caterpillar engines there with a total capacity of 2.3 megawatts,” said General Manager Jonathan Tibbetts, noting that just one of these is sufficient for the power demand on Little Cayman.”

Before CBP&L started up on the Island, residents and resorts had to run private generators.

“There wasn’t a store there where you could buy frozen produce. CBP&L enables an easier way of life on Little Cayman,” said Andre Scott, the company’s Financial Controller since January 2005.

Both Mr Tibbetts and Mr Scott are Brackers who took the opportunity to return home by putting their skills and education to work for the power company.

Mr Scott said that he always wanted to come back to the Brac. After graduating from Cayman Brac High school in 1994, he moved to Grand Cayman to work for Barclays Bank.

Three years later, he went to a small private business school – Webber College in Lake Wales, Florida – where he began a degree in Accounting on a Government loan. Half way through, he switched to the University of South Florida, where he had a scholarship from Ernst and Young to continue his degree.

He has always been good with figures and likes accounting, but it was not his first subject choice, he said.

“I wanted to study marine biology, but because of the red tape involved with getting a government scholarship, I was deterred from going to college until 1997,” he said.

Mr Scott passed his CPA in May 2003 and continued to work for Ernst and Young until December 2004. When the job opportunity arose at CBP&L, he grabbed it.

“I wanted to come back because I love this little Island. I was born here and grew up here and missed being able to go fishing with my father and little sisters. Being in Grand Cayman is far enough away,” he said.

“Hiring Andre supports the company policy of recruiting young locals who have furthered their education and want to return to Cayman Brac,” noted Mr Tibbetts.

“There are two types of young people that leave Cayman Brac: those that don’t want to ever come back, and those that come home at every opportunity,” said Mr Scott, a self-confessed member of the second group.

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