The management and board of the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) Incorporated yesterday assured Cabinet that every possible step will be taken to address promptly, the transmission and distribution difficulties that have caused a spate of power outages, Cabinet Secretary Dr Roger Luncheon reported.
The meeting with the power company’s board and management took place yesterday in the face of Cabinet’s concerns about the recent surge in blackouts in many parts of Guyana.
The Government Information Agency said that Luncheon was speaking at his weekly post-Cabinet press briefing at the Office of the President.
“Management and the board assured Cabinet that the fundamental problem was not the issue of generation. This may have been the case historically, but the recent surge in power outages, the Board and the management asserted that it was not generation…transmission and distribution difficulties were behind the power outages,” the HPS said.
GINA said that the transmission and distribution problems arose subsequent to the rainy season in November. The rainy season exposed the system’s vulnerabilities and brought its negative impact on Guyanese, GINA reported the Cabinet Secretary as saying. “The board and management insisted that data and experiences exist and are documented that until November, the start of the rainy season, power outages were indeed at a minimum,” Luncheon said.
Meanwhile, the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) yesterday called on GPL to find a speedy resolution to the power outages. “It is not unreasonable for consumers to expect the provision of uninterrupted power supply, the need for which (rises) at this time,” the party said in a press release.
The PPP asserted that the challenges being encountered by the power company were compounded by the opposition’s slashing of the $5.2B subsidy that had been allocated for the electricity sector. The party expects that with the dawning of a new year the combined opposition would be “cognizant of the consequences of its action and the deprivation it imposes on citizens.”
The party further noted that as the housing sector expands the demand for the use of electricity increases. As such, the PPP reiterates the need for the opposition to be responsive to the needs of citizens as they continue to improve their lifestyle.
Similarly, the PPP urges GPL to be mindful of consumers’ expectations and to work assiduously to deliver acceptable services.
