-says after set-offs $510m owed
The Guyana Power and Light Company (GPL) has given the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) until tomorrow to honour an agreement to commence paying the net $510m owed and failure to do this will result in the disconnection of electricity to two city markets.
Attempts to get a comment from the M&CC’s public relations department and acting Town Clerk Yonette Pluck-Cort yesterday were futile although a promise was made to return this newspaper’s telephone call.
In a letter sent to Pluck-Cort yesterday, GPL said that “We are exhausted by the numerous efforts we have made since 2004 to resolve the M&CC’s indebtedness.
However, it would appear that the M&CC does not intend to have a resolution, leaving us no choice but to disconnect your electricity services and seek legal redress”.
The letter further stated that if the council does not honour the previous agreement made during a meeting on November 21, which was to settle some of the outstanding arrears among other things by December 10 (tomorrow), the power company will disconnect firstly the electricity supply to the Kitty and La Penitence markets.
Last month, the power company cut off the electricity supply to the council over the outstanding arrears. This move affected the security installations, the city treasury, the municipal abattoir, the Liliendaal pump, facilities attached to the cemetery, the solid waste management department, the incinerator and the mechanical workshop among others.
The power was subsequently restored after the two reached an agreement to settle the municipality’s debt.
The letter sent to Pluck-Cort restated that out of the November 21 meeting it was agreed that GPL was indebted to the M&CC to the tune of $113m for rates and taxes while the M&CC was indebted to GPL for electricity charges to the sum of $624m.
There were also smaller debts associated both ways with GPL’s predecessor GEC.
