Multiple power outages over the weekend along the East Bank of Demerara were caused by excavation works done by a private citizen, Junior Works Minister Deodat Indar disclosed during a site visit yesterday.
According to the Minister, over the weekend, the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) company received numerous complaints of power outages and this led to a probe in the area from Nandy Park to Grove, East Bank Demerara.
He noted that during the course of yesterday, emergency work crews were able to identify the problem.
In a Facebook briefing, Indar said GPL found the problem in the remigrant scheme next to Mocha, where a private landowner cleared his land and removed the Guy-wire. “This caused sagging of the 13.8 Kv (13800 volts) line touching the earth on the nearby post, causing multiple trips and outages affecting thousands of customers. GPL is rectifying the problem,” he statement.
GPL, in a statement last night, said the Guy-wire, which was used to provide support to the primary pole and network, was dislodged during excavation work by the landowner in the re-migrant Scheme at Providence, East Bank Demerara.
The dislodgment of the Guy-wire disrupted the angle of the pole resulting in the drooping of the 13.8 kV conductor. As a result, the conductor came into contact with the earth wire on the low voltage network causing the disruption in power supply which customers first experienced early Sunday afternoon.
Remedial work commenced immediately after the problem was identified. Affected areas were repowered by 6.04 pm last evening.
