Very soon the old power grid at West Ruimveldt will be down and a new distribution network built for the area last year would be up and running.
The Guyana Power and Light is currently in the area removing wires, poles and transformers in an exercise that is ongoing.
Customers with active accounts have been connected to the new network while residents who have neglected to approach the company to regularize their accounts are going to be out of power very shortly.
GPL stated in a press release yesterday that they have delayed de-energising the old network for more than two months to give more time to those residents with inactive accounts and illegal connections to go in to the Main Street commercial office and put their accounts in order. According to the company, a flexible payment plan that provides easy solutions for the payment of arrears over a longer period of time is in place.
Residents attached to GPL’s new network will receive a much improved power supply, GPL said, and in addition the company will be able to attend to line repairs more speedily because the service connections have been moved to the front of the buildings.
Meanwhile, GPL said the power supply had been interrupted on the East Coast between Success and Coldingen on Monday after a vehicle had slammed into a primary structure at LBI, which supports one of the high voltage transmission lines that take power to the upper East Coast. The broken pole had begun to lean and the line tripped and Sophia was alerted.
The area was re-powered by 10 pm, according to the company, because an emergency team from the city was immediately dispatched to LBI. GPL noted that the crew from Victoria was unable to get past the blockade at Lusignan, adding that since the recent unrest the Georgetown team has been lending support.