Dear Editor,
I was not surprised when I read KN of February 22, under the caption ‘Essequibo Coast set for power outage as engine goes for maintenance.’
Well, whether it is maintenance, fuel shortage, line distribution failures, or engine failures, the consumers are totally fed up with the number of power outages we have had to endure over the last two decades.
When one looks at the amount of money totalling billions of dollars the government has been spending on the Guyana Power and Light, plus the billions more borrowed from the international lending agencies to be spent on this entity, the question that has to be asked is whether the consumers of this country are getting value for money. Of course, the answer would be a resounding ‘no’.
It is therefore imperative to set up a commission to find out why this service provider (GPL) despite all the financing has failed to deliver. You have to diagnose before you can cure by treatment of any kind, including surgery, because this power company is sick and needs urgent attention. Were you to go around the country to do a survey, talking to consumers in every region about their satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the services provided by the power company, overall their rating would, or should be no more than a ‘D’, and it has been so for years.
About fifteen months ago I was based at Tiperu way up the Mazaruni River, where I am employed by B K Internat-ional quarrying site, and I can say – and all the other employees would say including those that have been there a long, long time – that black-outs and power outages are alien to us; they simply don’t happen there. Of course there would be a change-over from generator # 1 to # 2 or # 3, a process sometimes you don’t even know about, because it takes no more than a few seconds. My comments are not those of convenience and do not contain any level of exaggeration, but are based purely on the abundance of evidence that exists. My contention is that if a private company can provide electricity twenty-four/ seven, why can’t this state entity be just as good.
The Guyana Power and Light is seriously ill and urgent treatment must be administered; massive surgeries must not be ruled out.
Yours faithfully,
Archie Cordis
