The Public Utilities Commis-sion (PUC) yesterday advised that the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) will face penalties if the utility fails to live up to customer service standards including responding to complaints within a specified time.
Customers have complained about the sloth of the power utility’s response in the past but under customer service standards for 2013-2014 unveiled by the PUC, they could have their accounts credited with specified amounts if GPL is slow in its response.
The PUC carries out regulatory, investigatory, enforcement and other such functions in an effort to ensure that the providers of telecommunications, water and electricity in Guyana provide fair deals and adequate service at reasonable cost to the Guyanese people.
In an ad in yesterday’s Sunday Stabroek, the PUC outlined standards that GPL will have to meet in the areas of the connection of a new service, reconnections, responses to fault reports, general queries, billing services, legal/PUC queries, responses to reports about defective meters, and the replacement of meters.
According to the notice, the steepest of the financial penalties will be attracted by GPL’s failure to provide new services. Failure to connect customers in the commercial category within 65 days, the notice reads, will result in a penalty of $4,000 per day for each day GPL breaches the deadline – to a maximum of $40,000, while failure to connect customers in the residential category within 79 days will result in a fine of $2000 per day for each day GPL breaches the deadline – to a maximum of $20,000. These particulars however, will only apply in cases where there is need for the installation of a primary and/or secondary network.
In instances where these are already in place, GPL is expected to provide new services to commercial customers within 14 days or pay a penalty of $2,000 per day for each day the company breaches the deadline – to a maximum of $20,000, and is expected to connect new residential customers in 14 days or pay a penalty of 1,000 per day for each day the company breaches the deadline – to a maximum of $10,000.
As it relates to reconnections, the company is required to reconnect both commercial and residential customers in the Georgetown area within two days and those out of Georgetown within three days. The penalties for the two categories however, vary. Failure to meet this standard for commercial customers will result in penalties of $2,000 for the first day of breach and $3,000 per day from the second day onward – to a maximum of $8000.
Residential customers, on the other hand, stand to receive $1,000 for the first day of the breach and $2,000 per day from the second day onward – to a maximum of $5,000 days. It should be noted that these penalties will only apply in instances where the meter and service line is already installed.
If these are not already installed, the company then has seven days to do what is required, but the financial penalties remain the same as in the instance where they were absent.
In cases where reports are made about any faults in its network, GPL is expected to respond to commercial customers within one day, but is given one and a half days to respond to its residential customers.
Failure to meet these deadlines will require that GPL credits its commercial customers with $15,000 while residential customers will be credited $3,000. The countdown in these instances will commence when the report is made and a reference number is issued by GPL to the customer.
When general queries are made, the company has to complete necessary works within 47 days for both residential and commercial customers. Failure to meet this standard will require the company to credit the consumer $1000 per day – to a maximum of $5000. This however, applies to cases where a visit to the consumer’s premises is required.
If a visit to a consumer’s premises is not required, the company is expected to acknowledge the query in four days, and is given eight days to respond to the query and if not, is required to credit consumers $500 per day to a maximum of $3000.
Queries that are bill related, however, will be dealt with under separate standards. For responses to billing inquiries that are written, made over the counter or via a phone call, the standard time for a response to be given is eight days. The inquiry must however, be acknowledged within four days and, if a site visit is not required, GPL is expected to provide an explanation within seven days of receiving the original complaint. Failure to comply with the standards in these three instances will attract a penalty of $500 per day – to a maximum of $3000.
If the query is made by the PUC or relates to a legal dispute though, GPL is given 21 days to respond to 90% of the queries and 47 days to respond to 100% of the queries. Failure to do this will attract a penalty of $1,000 per day – to a maximum of $5,000.
Meanwhile, GPL is to respond to written reports by both residential and commercial consumers, of a meter which is inaccurately registering within seven days and should have the unit fully tested within 21 days. Failure to respond on time will attract a $500 penalty per day – to a maximum of $3,000, while failing to test in time will attract a penalty of $1,000 per day – to a maximum of $5,000. Customer should note that all notices stating that the meter is improperly registering should be written.
Finally, the replacement of meters is to be completed in 55 days for both commercial and residential consumers. However, residential consumers are to be credited $500 per day – to a maximum of $2,500 if this standard is not met while commercial consumers will be credited $1,000 per day – to a maximum of $5,000.
Additional information on these standards and resulting penalties can be found on the PUC’s website – www.puc.org.gy.
