Guyana Power and Light Inc (GPL) in a release yesterday reported on a number of incidents that resulted in service interruptions in the Demerara and Berbice areas.
According to the utility, at 01:50 hrs yesterday morning, service from Success to Good Hope, East Coast Demerara, was interrupted when a feeder from the GPL Good Hope Substation tripped due to a defective transformer. However, remedial work commenced immediately to replace the transformer and power was fully restored at approximately 05:56 hrs.
On Monday, December 21, at approximately 01: 23 hrs, the L17 Transmission Line, which links GPL’s Good Hope and Colombia Substations tripped, affecting service to customers from Victoria, East Coast Demerara to Moleson Creek, Berbice. Subsequent investigations revealed that a coconut branch was trapped on the line. Incremental power restoration commenced in Berbice at 01:42 hrs and East Coast Demerara at 02:43 hrs. All areas were repowered at approximately 02:53 hrs.
And in another incident, service to customers from No. 54 Village to No. 68 Village was interrupted at 09:00 hrs when high voltage power lines came into contact with a pole at No. 68 Village. Remedial work commenced immediately, and all areas were repowered at approximately 09:47 hrs.
Service woes continued when at 11:37 hrs the same day, the L16 Transmission Line, which links the Sophia and Good Hope Substations tripped when a crane came into contact with the line. The incident affected service to customers from Success, East Coast Demerara to Ithaca, West Berbice. Power was restored all areas at 11:50 hrs.
And on Sunday, December 20, at approximately 08:21 hrs, a feeder at GPL’s Golden Grove Substation tripped, interrupting service to customers from Eccles to Diamond, East Bank Demerara. This time, a broken pole and burnt line hardware were discovered at Providence and at Fifth Avenue, Diamond respectively. A damaged transformer was also found at Toolsie Persaud Limited at Providence. Remedial work to isolate and correct the faults commenced immediately and incremental power restoration began at approximately 09:22 hrs. The remaining areas were re-powered at approximately 14:11hrs.
And also the same day at 11:57 hrs, the F4 Feeder at Good Hope and the F1 Feeder at New Georgetown Substations tripped on under frequency, which caused a service interruption to customers from Good Hope to Enmore, East Coast Demerara and Houston to Eccles, East Bank Demerara respectively. All areas were repowered at 12:10 hrs.
In an effort to mitigate such occurrences, GPL informed that it has an ongoing vegetation management programme aimed at inspecting and monitoring the network to ensure potential issues that can cause network faults and trips are addressed.
Customers are encouraged to report all localised faults to GPL’s 24/7 Customer Call Centre on 226-2600.
In addition, residents are advised to inform GPL when operating equipment in close proximity to its network to prevent potential risks.
GPL assures that it remains committed to providing reliable power supply and offers its sincere apologies for the inconvenience caused by disruptions, the release added.
