Dear Editor,
It is now seven weeks since employees of the Guyana Power and Light Inc, New Amsterdam Branch entered premises at Lot 42 Ferry Street, New Amsterdam without permission, and in the absence of the owners/caretakers disconnected the power supply to the upper flat of the building which was unoccupied at the time and has been for the past two years. As I explained in a letter to this newspaper captioned ‘Illegal disconnection,’ and published on February 28, 2009 my family has had the responsibility of caretaker of the building since my in-laws migrated to the United States some five years ago. The last time they visited was back in 2007 when they stayed for a few weeks.
On February 13, 2009 a group of GPL employees entered the premises and proceeded to not only to disconnect the power but also enter the meter. A tenant in the bottom flat saw the men opening the meter. The employees then called out to an elderly female tenant in the bottom flat and told her that the meter for the upper flat had been tampered with and she should sign a document acknowledging this. The woman said in a confused and terrified state she signed the document without even reading it. Is this how GPL’s employees have been trained to operate − to intimidate people into confessing electricity theft? Further how could they ask the tenants in the bottom flat to sign any document related to the upper flat. What is extremely strange is that the crew did not check the meter for the bottom flat which is occupied, unlike the upper flat, even though the meters are right next to each other. At least two customers have told me they have had similar experiences with GPL staff in New Amsterdam. In one case a woman said after she was accused of meter tampering she visited the NA office and proceeded to curse everyone in the office. The accusation was withdrawn and she was given a new meter. Do I have to resort to such behaviour to have power restored?
A GPL official at the NA Office told me in February that he had to investigate the matter and would call me when he was completed. After calling him several times he eventually told me if I wanted the power restored I would have to pay a $50,000 fine and the investigations would continue. In April 2008 the power supply to this building was disconnected for alleged non-payment of bills. The power was restored the following day after someone found out that it was a mistake.
We had learnt then that this crew which came from Georgetown and was staying at Parkway Hotel had opened the meter apparently checking to see if it was tampered with. Wasn’t this crew expected to report its findings to the NA Office after it had “checked” the meter? Ten months later probably on the ‘advice’ of colleagues who visited in April 2008, this NA crew invaded the premises, opened the meter and “discovered” that it had been tampered with. Only one security light outside of the building which is turned on and off at dusk and dawn is used in the upper flat and payments for the power consumed have been up to date.
I have not heard from the GPL official since mid-February. In other parts of the civilized world someone would have had to compensate us for the inconvenience, loss and embarrassment suffered. But this is Guyana and it seems we are left with no recourse but to face the wrath and apparent vindictiveness of employees. Small wonder people continue to seek every opportunity to flee this beloved country of ours. Could anyone in GPL explain to me why would anyone want to steal electricity for a building where no one lives. By the way I am a property owner in another section of NA. Someone who had a similar experience has told me, we should expect no justice from GPL and we should instead seek recourse at the offices of the Public Utilities Commission. However, I would first like to hear CEO Mr Dindyal’s position on what has transpired.
Yours faithfully,
Daniel Da Costa
Editor’s note
On March 2, 2009, we sent a copy of Mr Da Costa’s earlier letter on this subject (published February 28) to Mr Richard Francois, GPL’s Public Relations Officer (ag) for any comments he might have wished to make, but received no response.
