Prime Minister Samuel Hinds met officials of the Lethem Power Company Inc (LMPCI) last weekend, following the lengthy blackout period the community experienced recently and LMPCI Chairman John Macedo said that power supply returned to normal on Saturday.
Two brand new 750 KVA generators arrived in Lethem on Friday and were installed on Saturday.
Hinds said that the 625 KVA, 750 KVA and 220 KVA generators used by the power station have been used for quite some time and will be repaired. He added that he expected residents to keep their end of the bargain and reiterated that the government will only subsidize capital cost, leaving residents to supply the operational and maintenance cost to run LMPCI.
Macedo had told this newspaper that the current generators would work in conjunction with the new generators when the new power plant starts operation.
Macedo said the LMPCI appreciates the patience showed by residents during the blackout periods.
Between last week Monday evening and Saturday, residents of Moco Moco, St Ignatius, Culvert City, Tabatinga and Lethem took turns in receiving five hours of electricity per day, following a complete power outage which forced six schools to be closed. Schools were reopened on Thursday last.
Macedo told Stabroek News that on February 6, one of the generators used to supply electricity to the community was taken in for routine servicing and since there was no a backup system in place, residents had to face some blackouts. However, after the routine servicing, both generators stopped working, due to water accumulation in the fuel compartment of the generator.
He added that no signs of the potential calamity were spotted during the routine servicing, He said personnel were trying to determine the possible cause for the shutdown of the generators to restore power in the area.
Later on Monday evening one of the generators was repaired and power was partially restored, according to Macedo.
Resident Carl Parker told the newspaper last week Monday that the residents of Lethem were calling for the agreed new cost for electricity supply to be put on hold, pending the outcome of the recent upsurge of blackouts Lethem and neighbouring communities faced.
Member of Parliament Sydney Allicock also presented a petition in the National Assembly regarding the increase in electricity tariff.
When he spoke to this newspaper, he said he was pleased with the progress he saw recently in Lethem in relation to power supply. He said too that he had been asked to withdraw the petition, but he was not going to do so.
He was of the belief that as long as the petition was intact, the authorities would do the right thing. “We need action. Lethem needs action, and they need to be given the satisfaction of electricity supply,” Allicock said.
He added that he is still going to look into equitable distribution of electricity with the residents paying a tariff that works with their income. The petition is expected to be addressed in Parliament on February 27, Allicock said, while adding that he feels the type of problem Lethem had needed to be fixed and not debated.
In the past after receiving the first 15 KWH free, residents paid $45 per KWH and then from 45 KWh and upwards, residents paid $55 per KWh. The rates were the same for residential and commercial consumers.
However, after residents received letters in January informing them of an increased tariff from $45 per KWh to $75 per KWh, they immediately sprang into action, calling for the rates to be rescinded and also calling for residential consumers to pay different rates from commercial consumers.
LMPCI and Lethem residents later came to an agreement which said that the first 15 Kwh of electricity will remain free for residential and commercial consumers. For residential consumers, from 16 – 45 Kwh, the rate will be $55 per Kwh and from 46 Kwh and above, the cost will be $60 per Kwh.
For commercial consumers, from 16 to 100Kwh, the rate will be $55 per Kwh; from 101- 200 Kwh, $60 per Kwh; from 201 – 400, $70 per Kwh and for over 400 units consumed, $75 per Kwh.
Hinds, responding to Allicock’s petition in Parliament said the cost of electricity has to be set so that the operations and maintenance costs would be met and reiterated that the position was communicated to residents, who agreed.
In a letter published in this newspaper on February 10, Hinds said the historical electricity prices at Lethem were set with the assumption that the majority of electricity required would have been provided by the Moco-Moco [hydropower station], but this has not been so since 2004.
However, in a letter published on Saturday, Hinds said the potential rehabilitation of the Moco-Moco Hydro Power Station is very unlikely and pointed out that the idea of rehabilitating the Moco-Moco plant was not feasible.
PM’s letter was written in response to Mark DaCosta’s letter, regarding the Moco-Moco hydro Power Station, during which DaCosta said Hinds promised during a press briefing that the government would have seek help from the Chinese to repair the Hydro-Power Plant.
