The Guyana Power and Light (GPL) Incorporated plans to implement a social management plan and other initiatives to reduce electricity theft as it has again noticed an increase in this practice.
Chief Executive Officer Bharrat Dindyal said that the level of losses had been reduced to 31 per cent but recently it has been slowly climbing upwards, according to a Government Information Agency (GINA) press release.
Earlier this year, GPL officials and experts on loss reduction agreed that there is need for a social management plan where the company interacts with communities about electricity theft. “This means that we will be going into communities, talking to residents… basically taking a softer approach rather than continuing to rely entirely on the old policing methods. We are advised by the experts, that the old method would not be successful because it basically results in antagonism, and deteriorates the company’s relationship with communities,” Dindyal said.
The CEO had also revealed that the company was losing about $2 billion annually to electricity theft. However, GPL plans to continue with raids into areas where this practice is prevalent and it is exploring designing a network in peripheral areas that would make the theft of electricity more much more difficult.
“GPL is constrained in areas where people are squatting, as the law prohibits the supply of electricity to unregularised areas,” GINA said. Dindyal also explained that there are a lot of dramatics in raiding areas, arresting large numbers of people and taking them to the court, especially in the light of the fact that the courts cannot dispense with all of these matters in a timely manner. There are currently over 1,000 cases of electricity theft and tampering pending in courts.
Dindyal said the company will continue to analyse all its options to date and to review its strategy but the current overall plan would be based on a heavy technological intervention in redesigning the networks and bringing to bear new metering technology.
