Dear Editor,
The Guyana Power and Light’s (GPL) rotten service of poor electricity delivery is once again coming to the fore and the picture looks very bleak again for Berbicians. But GPL’s shoddy service applies to the whole of Guyana, because Georgetown is suffering very much with daily blackouts as well.
I was at my wits end with GPL during the past weekend. Berbicians experienced approximately 10 blackouts from Friday right up to Monday morning. The language I wish to use towards GPL is not savoury for these columns, neither does it speak well for my character but I am ashamed of what this power company is doing to Guyanese on a daily basis. When will this madness of blackouts end, when?
There were several power failures in Berbice on Sunday evening. Yes, there was a thunder shower but that did not give GPL the excuse to black out the entire Berbice region for several hours. I was so angry. I had work planned to do.
I had my show on the radio to listen to after a very tiring week, and the same ahead. I went to bed very angry. Of all the times of the day, the GPL blackouts come when you need electricity the most, when you have so much work to do on the computer or in the home! I had my assignment to complete, and I know many other persons had so much to do but they have to change their schedules to fit the incompetent power company very often. This is surely inexcusable. What is GPL doing to the Guyanese public? They are stopping the lives of thousands on a daily basis whenever there is a blackout. People have to halt what they are doing to accommodate these annoying electricity withdrawals.
The Kingston Power Plant has come on stream – same story! The Skeldon Co-Generation Factory has come on stream – same story! Every now and then, more empty promises flow like the rivers of Babylon – same story! New generators have come to the various power stations – the same sad and pathetic story! When will it end, I ask on behalf of Guyanese everywhere?
I visited the Skeldon Co-Generation Plant and saw the massive set-up there. Surely, it is indeed a modern, state-of-the-art system on which millions were spent. I saw three large engines and two large steam turbines. Isn’t the service to Berbice supposed to have improved then? Oh God, I am so sick of GPL.
I don’t know what more to say. I do not know how many more letters to the press it would take to embarrass these incompetent people. GPL’s service has been going from bad to worse over the years.
During this same period last year (2009) there were 73 blackouts in Berbice (give or take 1 or 2, but that’s a very pretty accurate number). Today there have been nearly 100 blackouts in Berbice – 100! There have been 20 blackout days in the 31 days in May. This is sickening to say the least.
GPL cannot, and I repeat, cannot provide enough electricity to this nation. More and more are added to the power grid every day, as I had mentioned in a previous letter. Now, we’re hearing this bull about hydro-power. When the hell would that finish? That issue has been embroiled in controversy over the contractor and his alleged inability to construct a road to the area in the jungle.
Guyana is skipping fourth and swiftly moving on to become a fifth world country. Yes, we’re going to the dogs, day by day. The power situation in Guyana is just a tip off the iceberg of problems we have in this place. Champion of the Earth, my foot – champion of darkness and champion of the country with the most blackouts per square inch.
Yours faithfully,
Leon Jameson Suseran
