Lethem residents are now receiving 19 hours of electricity daily following a two-week period of severe power rationing which was preceded by months of sustained power outages.
President of the Rupununi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI), Jacqueline D’Aguiar said that from Saturday, the community began receiving 19 hours of power per day after a generator set that had to be repaired in the city was returned and set up.
This followed two weeks during which residents of the rapidly expanding town on the border with Brazil received five hours of power per day and prior to that, endured months of sustained power outages.
“I guess everybody is happy,” said D’Aguiar when contacted yesterday while expressing hope that with the acquisition of a new generator expected in the community next month, they will be receiving 24-hours of electricity. “Everybody is hoping for that,” she said. She noted that the community was also receiving water again. The power failures had affected the water supply through the pipes.
The businesswoman also restated her call that the authorities consider and implement a long-term plan for electricity supply for the town. She pointed out that currently there are about 12 new businesses going up and there are some already constructed that are not connected to the grid. “Everyone is connecting up and more people are using electricity,” she said noting that demand will only grow.
Following a protest last week, the Lethem Power Company Inc. (LPCI), which has been criticised for withholding information about the situation from the affected communities, announced that a generating set that recently failed, creating a “crisis” situation for residents enduring major disruptions in power and water supplies would have been back in service by Thursday.
The company outlined plans to restore an acceptable level of generation by mid-December and a reasonable back-up system next year. The utility said that after selective tendering, an engine for a 750 kVa FG Wilson generator set would be sourced from Florida, in the US and flown to Guyana.
“With the return of the 625 kVa FG Wilson…residents of Lethem should be receiving power for about 20 hours each day, and with the return of the FG Wilson 750 kVa genset by December 14th, power should be available again to all customers, 24 hours per day,” it had said.
As a result of the interrupted electricity service, the water supply to villages was also disrupted as immediately after power is cut off, the water goes too.
Over the years, the community, which lies on the border with Brazil, has been hit by many power problems.
Residents had complained that this situation was making their lives hard and was hurting the business community.
