Dear Editor,
The GMSA, more especially members of the Steering Committee of the GMSA/IDB Energy Efficiency Project, have taken note of the article which appeared in the Kaieteur News edition of November 30, 2013 under the caption ‘Manufacturing companies reject GEA’s audit offer.’ The news item emanated from the Energy Management Workshop held at the Cheddi Jagan Research Centre on November 28, 2013. While we appreciate the media coverage of that crucial workshop, the slant of the KN article suggested that there was a measure of antagonism and friction between the Guyana Energy Agency (GEA) and the manufacturing sector which is represented by the GMSA.
This response is intended to put into proper perspective the tone of the workshop, particularly the comments made by the participants who were drawn from both the public and private sectors.
That workshop was the third in a series of five that were conducted in Georgetown, Berbice and Essequibo. They constituted part of the Public Communication and Information Dissemi-nation component of the jointly funded Energy Efficiency & Energy Management Project.
This private sector project was structured to include the Guyana Energy Agency (GEA) that serves as the regulatory agency on national energy matters. The GEA has served as a key resource since the inception of the project in 2012, and an integral partner in all phases of its implementation. The GEA’s engineers played an important part in the technical consultancy support provided to the five pilot companies through two regional energy experts, and the agency’s Chief Executive Officer serves as a member of the project steering committee.
The workshop mentioned above was designed to share the consultant’s (Dr Carl Duncan) findings from his in-plant exercises (measuring and monitoring equipment performance, etc) as well as his recommendations for better efficiency to ultimately reduce overall energy costs. Representatives from the pilot companies and others in both the public and private sector including electrical & mechanical engineers, accountants and administrators, were invited to discuss their companies’ energy installations and strategies for monitoring and conservation.
It was the examination of the concept of energy audits and the use of certain online software programmes that prompted a spin-off discussion on companies’ understandable reluctance to expose their sensitive information online which could become available to competitors and government agencies. They were assured that the recommended software was designed with passwords and other types of security features. In this regard, they were reluctant to accept the GEA’s offer to come into their companies to conduct energy audits.
GMSA Director and Project Administrator Clement Duncan, in his summation at the end of the one-day workshop, acknowledged the concerns of the participants and sought to assure them that the role of the GEA in this project was based on the agency’s national mandate and regulatory responsibilities. He explained as well that the term ‘energy audit’ is not synonymous with a financial audit, and that it entails merely measuring energy input and output against the ratings of equipment, and assesses overall efforts to manage equipment usage and efforts at energy conservation.
The GMSA acknowledges the GEA as a worthwhile partner in this Energy Efficiency Project which itself has national implications for large and small companies in the public and private sectors.
Yours faithfully,
Clement Duncan
Project Administrator & Chairman
Project Steering Committee
