A severe power outage on Sunday left local businesses struggling, with one owner describing it as the worst outage she has experienced in her five years of operation with the operation incurring a loss of $2,000.

The power outage disrupted businesses across Upolu and forced many to shut down or limit services. Chillz Samoa owner Terina Langkilde, whose store relies on refrigeration, said her backup generator helped but wasn’t enough to prevent losses.

The business has faced outages before but Langkilde noted that this year has been particularly bad. 

"There have been more and more power outages than expected. We have had one or two in the last few years, but this year, it's just gone well overboard of what's expected. This is the worst one we’ve had in five years," said Langkilde.

"Our biggest concern is our ice cream. It’s a lot of money in stock, and our fruits are imported, so the cost of losing them is high," added Langkilde.

Despite the challenges, the store stayed open as long as possible. 

"We’ve become accustomed to these outages, but this one was particularly bad. We just have to work around these challenges," she added.

The financial loss from the outage was estimated at $2,000. "So it is a lot of money, you know, for a day's taking, that's shopping for us for part of the week," said Langkilde.

The power failure also impacted foot traffic for the usual Sunday ice cream runs. "People probably weren't aware that we were still up," she explained. While gas-powered deep fryers allowed limited food service, business was not as steady as a typical Sunday.

During previous outages, the business contacted the Electric Power Corporation (EPC) for updates. However, on Sunday, like many other Samoans, Landkilde kept up to date with the affected areas around Upolu through the official page of the EPC—"EPC kept everyone informed, so we didn’t need to call," she said.

 "It is a little bit annoying, but hey, it is what it is. Everybody was without power, so you can't really complain," she added.

To prevent significant losses, the business moved perishable items to a large chiller and ran their backup generator, nicknamed "Bob."

"We turned Bob on, but our ice cream needs freezing, and some of it started to melt," the owner said. Staff arrived early the following day to transfer items back into freezers and clean equipment. 

"Fortunately, we didn’t have to throw anything out. You just make do with what you’ve got."

Despite the setback, the owner remains committed to adapting to infrastructure challenges and continuing to serve the community.