Dear Editor,
I have had visits from GPL’s disconnection teams both at my home and place of business in Georgetown during the past week. This, even though both bills were fully paid up at GBTI since May 20, 2010. I understood from the disconnection teams that GPL had received no notification of my payments from the bank even after two weeks.

I am not even going to speak on the issue of corporate responsibility wherein a cursory glance at my payment record would show that I always pay my bills on time and a seeming non-payment should elicit a phone call from their customer service department to query the reason. But that happens in civilized countries and this is Guyana, so I have to deal instead with the harassment from disconnection crews even though the bills are paid.

I am an old businessman and I would think that if GPL is having issues with timely notification of bill payments from its secondary payment offices – commercial banks, the post office and bill payment services – then the power company should cut out that option for its customers. To transfer the company’s issues of poor service – if that is what it is – onto the paying customer is simply wrong.

I understand that many of the names on GPL’s disconnection lists are made up of customers who, like me, have paid at secondary payment sites but whose payment notices have not yet been received by GPL.

GPL can simply expand its payment services at all its offices – to ensure that customers would not have to suffer standing in long lines – and the company will know exactly who has paid and who not. This will immediately cut down on the expense of disconnection crews since they can then go directly to the non-paying customers. The money saved can be put towards creating bigger and more GPL payment offices.

I thought I could get around being harassed by GPL disconnection crews by installing a prepaid meter where I would have control over my payments. When I enquired about this I was told that I would have to give GPL a copy of my property transports. In a country where scams, schemes and fraud are a daily occurrence I am not going to give anyone even bad copies of critically important documents such as my property transports.

Since GPL never came around to ask to see my transports when they took over the service from GEC but are quite happy to take my money each month, I see no reason why replacing one meter for another would require them having copies of these documents.

The injustice in all this is that the public is hounded and harassed for payment for a service that is overpriced and absolutely shoddy. Hasn’t everyone noticed? The blackouts are back.

Yours faithfully,
A Shah