After enduring several hours of scheduled blackout on Sunday, residents of Georgetown can now expect a problem-free holiday season, according to the Guyana Power and Light Company (GPL) as it was able to complete the maintenance.
GPL had scheduled a maintenance for New Georgetown Substation, which covered Alexander Village, River View Ruimveldt, Industrial Site to Houston, North and South Ruimveldt, Guyhoc Park, Festival City, Tucville, Lamaha Park and Lamaha Springs. It was slated to last from 8.30 am to 2.30 pm.
Additionally, the Kingston and Sophia Substation, which covers Sheriff Street, Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) and Vlissingen Road, Kitty, Campbellville, Prashad Nagar, Subryanville, Queenstown and Bel Air Park had scheduled maintenance on Sunday. It was slated to last from 8.30 am to 6.30 pm.
The New Georgetown Substation had to undergo line maintenance and other smaller works, which resulted in those areas having a shorter downtime, the Kingston and Sophia Substations required GPL to conduct a comprehensive maintenance exercise on their medium and high voltage network between the substations.
GPL Public Relations Officer Wadecia Donald explained that the company had finished the maintenance at the New Georgetown Substation on time and was able to restore power on schedule, although residents of several areas said their power outage ended closer to 4 pm.
She said the Kingston and Sophia substations took longer than expected since it wasn’t the “usual line maintenance.”
However, according to Donald, the company was able to accomplish what it had set out to on Sunday and persons in those areas can expect to have a holiday season without any hiccups. “We don’t envision any major issues. We are working assiduously towards eliminating any issues,” she added.
During the lengthy blackout yesterday, many residents in the affected areas chose to go on outings their families. Some people explained to Stabroek News yesterday that instead of staying of and “fighting through the heat” they opted to go to the pool or to family members’ homes where there was no blackout.
“Well I took my kids to the pool because even if we de stay home it would’ve been hell. Inside would’ve been hot and outside was hot too. Didn’t make sense is best you just go out and cool down a little,” a resident from Newtown, Kitty explained.
Another resident said it was a good day to complete chores, since they weren’t any “electrical distractions.”
“We just went to the National Park and had a picnic. That was basically it and we spent almost the entire day there and it was good to be out, honestly,” another resident of Campbellville explained.
“Well I think it was good. A lot of people finally decided to come out of their house and get into the open.
Most of these days these young people stay indoors and act as if they are surgically attached to their electronic devices and refuse to go outside.
While having blackout is bad and causes an inconvenience, I was not too disappointed with the amount of people I saw going outside,” Raj Singh, of Kitty pointed out. He explained that for “the first time in a long time” he saw children outside playing sports and other games.
When Stabroek News visited several pools on Sunday, they were unusually crowded. Persons were also making plans on social media the night before to go out to avoid the blackout.
Meanwhile, in addition to the maintenance works that were completed, Donald explained that the power company is expected to finish laying its fibre optic cable by November 27, which will see a renewed connection to the Vreed-En-Hoop, West Coast Demerara, power station.
“With all assurances we are going to energize that connection and remember, currently we are not getting that 18 Mw presently from Vreed-En-Hoop,” she pointed out
In preparation for the holiday season she also stated that in addition to the maintenance around the country, the company has also been overhauling its engines and preparing otherwise for the peak and off-peak times
While Georgetown is not expected to have any more scheduled blackouts for the remainder of the year, on Wednesday, East Bank Demarara from Garden of Eden to Craig, and West Bank Demerara, from Vriesland to La Retraite, are scheduled for maintenance from 8 am to 4 pm.
On Thursday, East Coast Demerara, from Area G to Ogle, and Berbice, from Onverwagt to Seafield, is scheduled for maintenance from 8 am – 4 pm.
On Sunday, the University of Guyana Compound will also have a scheduled blackout from 8 am to 4 pm.
