The Guyana Power and Light Inc (GPL) yesterday refuted claims that it was targeting specific communities for the installation of their smart meters and said there were predetermined areas.
In a letter in yesterday’s Stabroek News, Taaj Jadunauth said that a meeting between residents of a certain section of Enmore and a GPL Contractor, together with representatives from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), was scheduled to advise them about the installation of smart meters in the area, but were not told if GPL representatives would also be present.
He noted that as a resident he has a few major concerns that other residents also share. He said that consumers of power have a contractual relationship with GPL and not any contractor or the IDB and that the provision of smart meters is the responsibility of the provider – GPL.
“As far as we have heard, smart-meters are being installed in certain areas only: LBI, Lusignan, Enterprise [and] now Enmore. These areas are populated mainly by Indians. Why are certain villages in between being skipped?” he questioned.
He further noted that the aforementioned areas are already serviced by meters but he can identify a number of areas which have no meters but enjoy free electricity.
“My money is financing that ‘thiefing’ and GPL is promoting that ‘thiefing’! Recently, a Facebook post showed a huge area in Sophia ‘thiefing power’. Why are not these areas targeted for meters – Smart or Stupid?” Jadunauth further questioned.
He also asked whether the meters are rejects from another country because of defects and whether they are being dumped into Guyana.
As a result, Stabroek News reached out to GPL’s Public Relations Officer, Shivion Sears for a comment.
She said that the utility is not targeting any communities and that the areas were predetermined areas that they would have identified to improve the service. This improvement, she said, would include changing of network, meters, poles and other infrastructure to facilitate an improved service to the area.
“So there is not one type of community that we are targeting. We are targeting random communities based on the assessment of communities that would have been the most vulnerable and need the upgrades. As a result of that, communities in Regions 3, 4, 5 and 6 were selected at random,” she said, while emphasizing that the communities were not chosen based on ethnicity.
While she could not provide more details, Sears related that they will bring more clarity to the situation by releasing a press statement today.
