An inquiry into last December’s island-wide power outage has submitted its findings to the Regulatory Authority.

But despite being given the all-clear to release it by regulators, the report has yet to be made public.

The island was hit by a day-long blackout on December 18 shortly after the company began operating a new $110 million power plant.

There have been a number of other outages since, raising concerns about the efficiency of the new system.

Today a spokesman for the company said that an investigation into the cause of the outage was complete

The spokesman said: “Belco submitted a final report to the Regulatory Authority by the required deadline.

“At this time, we believe it is appropriate to allow the RA time to review and provide feedback or request additional information.

“Belco can confirm that the impactful issues identified in the report that led to the outage are being addressed by Belco and its contractor partners.

“Belco intends to provide an update to the public on the findings of the root cause analysis in due course.

“Belco is also committed to providing safe and reliable energy to our valued customers as we work towards a sustainable energy future.”

Last night a spokeswoman for the Regulatory Authority confirmed that it had received the final report – and added that Belco was free to make it public.

The spokeswoman said: “The RA has received the final report and we are actively reviewing it before taking a final position.

“The outage report belongs to Belco and as such, they are able to release it whenever they choose to.

“Regarding deadlines, the RA had issued an Order for the final report to delivered the final report to the RA, which was met.”

Last month Belco acknowledged there were “reliability” issues with its new power station and that operations needed to be “fine-tuned”.

Company president Wayne Caines urged the public to be patient “as we work through teething pains” with the new station.

A spokesman for Belco said at the time: “As with all new and complex power plants, time is required to work through setting parameters to achieve the most optimal operational performance.

“Adjustments have been made during the commissioning process and continue to be made to address issues with emissions.”