…says Company has neither management nor capacity to deliver reliable power
The Private Sector Commission (PSC), has minced no words in taking to task the Government owned and operated Guyana Power & Light Inc (GPL) for the spate of power outages that have been registered throughout Guyana.
According to the PSC, GPL, which is the only company providing the country with electricity, has provided no credible explanation to address the “series of unannounced and frequently prolonged power outages.”
“To add insult to injury, the GPL recently from 2nd September to 5th November, 2017, announced a series of scheduled maintenance power cuts which, in Georgetown alone, amount to a total of 149 hours spread between 17 sections of the city. In addition, power cuts averaging about 5 hours each were scheduled for the Essequibo Coast, Berbice, East and West Bank Demerara, West Coast Demerara, Soesdyke and East Canjie” said the PSC.
Moreover, the PSC posited that “judging from this performance or, to be more accurate, absence of performance, GPL simply have neither the management nor the capacity to deliver a reliable power supply to the country and the government has consistently failed to address this reality.
“Guyana’s manufacturing and commercial sectors cannot function in these circumstances and, in this day and age at the exorbitant price that we are expected to pay for electricity, Guyana’s population should not be subjected to this punishment. As the Christmas season approaches, this has now become an even more pressing source of concern for the populace.”
The PSC also took Government to task for essentially scraping the Amaila Falls Hydro Project without putting mechanisms in place for an “acceptable alternative.”
See their full statement below:
The Guyana Power & Light Inc., owned and operated by the government and who enjoy a complete monopoly in providing the country’s power supply, have, within recent months, subjected the entire country to a series of unannounced and frequently prolonged power outages. There has been no credible explanation from the company’s management nor Board for these failures and none from the responsible Minister.
To add insult to injury, the GPL recently from 2nd September to 5th November, 2017, announced a series of scheduled maintenance power cuts which, in Georgetown alone, amount to a total of 149 hours spread between 17 sections of the city. In addition, power cuts averaging about 5 hours each were scheduled for the Essequibo Coast, Berbice, East and West Bank Demerara, West Coast Demerara, Soesdyke and East Canjie.
Needless to say, the majority of our citizens do not scan the newspapers everyday to see for when there is going to be a scheduled power cut and, as a result, are taken by surprise when the power goes out. The majority of our citizens are also not blessed with private generators to provide alternative power to save the food they have stored in the freezers and refrigerators.
Judging from this performance or, to be more accurate, absence of performance, GPL simply have neither the management nor the capacity to deliver a reliable power supply to the country and the government has consistently failed to address this reality. Guyana’s manufacturing and commercial sectors cannot function in these circumstances and, in this day and age at the exorbitant price that we are expected to pay for electricity, Guyana’s population should not be subjected to this punishment. As the Christmas season approaches, this has now become an even more pressing source of concern for the populace.
It is nothing short of a tragedy that a country with such immense hydro electric potential resources should be made to tolerate this situation. The previous government, with support of the IDB and CDB and funding from Norway, negotiated a major American power company to build and operate the Amaila Falls Project. Our current government has put the Project in cold storage while offering no acceptable alternative. So where do we go from here?
It seems that the Private Sector Commission has just arisen from its DEEP SLUMBER.We have been getting BLACK-OUTS from time immemorial,this is NOTHING NEW.Why you did not BLAST Jagdeo and his cohorts for it then.You BLASTED HYPOCRITES.