Again, to the OP, as so well stated by Marcy, for those who live there this has to be a nightmare. Between the basic inconvenience in the first place coupled with the way GEBE handles it and then throw in the ruined appliances and gizmos and gadgets, and the constant occurrences, I'd be ballistic, for sure.
But in honesty, as a visitor, the biggest convenience most will see is the restaurants may not have power, since they generally seem to happen during the daylight hours and most resorts do have their own auxiliary power generators. A simplification of course, but for the most part, as a visitor these problems shouldn't be a major inconvenience during your trip on either side of the island, and in many cases, you may not even be aware they're happening. Unless, of course, you're the lucky soul who has to climb the stairs to the penthouse units at some properties on the Dutch side because your elevators are down. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Yikes.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Yikes.gif" alt="" />