THE Guyana Power and Light Inc. remains challenged by commercial losses, averaging a total loss of some 30 per cent, of which commercial losses (Thieving by Private Sector Business friends of Jagdeo & Ramotar) account for between 16 and 17 per cent.

The Parliamentary Sectoral Committee on Natural Resources at yesterday’s meeting

This is according to Acting President, Samuel Hinds, when he appeared before the Parliamentary Sectoral Committee on Natural Resources yesterday in the Parliament Chambers at Public Buildings, Georgetown, to address several issues on energy.

He said, “These losses are the area of my greatest embarrassment with the electricity supply system.” Hinds pointed out that of the 170,000 plus customers on GPL’s grid, 3,000 of them are big businesses that account for half of the company’s commercial losses.

According to him, the commercial losses that have been recorded are registered mainly in areas within Region 4 (Demerara/Mahaica). He cited areas within Sophia and Coldingen, within Coldingen and Bygeval and communities in the southern part of Georgetown.

Hinds said the lowest recorded commercial loss was in the vicinity of 11 and 17 per cent.

He added that technical losses account for the remaining percentage of the average 30 per cent loss – an average that has remained stagnated for the last two years, coming down from a peak of 44 per cent.

Hinds, who has oversight for the electricity sector, maintained that the focus of the company’s Loss Reduction Unit is on reducing the numbers. “Why can’t we be better than Barbados,” he questioned.

INTEGRITY He noted that the commercial losses are a reflection on the “integrity of the people PPP Private Sector Businessmen” of Guyana, while the technical losses are a reflection on the company’s ability to make investment in the electricity network.

Measures to correct the Technical Loss...

He noted, however, that there are several measures in place to address the technical losses.

GPL continued its upgrade of its transmission system which has seen the first construction of substations at points in its network. The programme costing over US$40M entails the construction of seven new 69/13.8 kV sub-stations, the expansion/upgrade of three existing 69/13.8 kV sub-stations, construction of approximately 96 km of 69 kV transmission lines, including a link between the Demerara and Berbice Interconnected Systems; 2.1 km of submarine cable; the construction of a new central control centre with SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) capabilities, and installation of 251 km of fiber optic cable along the transmission line.

Already, two new substations at Edinburgh, West Coast of Demerara and Vreed-en-Hoop, and one expanded substation at Kingston, Georgetown and 14 km of interconnecting transmission lines with fibre optic cable were constructed and commissioned and are in service.

Work continued on the construction of the remaining five new substations at New Sophia, Good Hope, New Georgetown, Columbia, East Coast of Demerara, and Golden Grove, East Bank of Demerara, two expanded/upgraded stations at Sophia and Onverwagt, West Coast of Berbice, the central control centre and 80 km of interconnecting transmission lines and fibre optic cable. The project is almost complete.

GPL STAFFERS INVOLVED As it relates to tackling the commercial losses, Hinds made no bones about acknowledging that five per cent of GPL staffers are involved in scams that contribute to the company’s losses.

He said, “We cannot have high commercial loses without a number of people involved.”

GPL in its ongoing programme to reduce losses in this area began a pilot project of installing 2,000 ‘smart meters’ in Central Georgetown. Though more costly, these could provide a platform to eliminate manual meter reading and the associated problems, thereby providing a range of benefits to customers and to GPL.

Hinds noted that electricity theft is homogenous across Guyanese society.

He added that the challenge remains to implement a system that makes electricity theft significantly difficult.

{The thieving from Govt (Including Electricity)is now at the highest Record Ever....Sam Hinds} 

FOCUS ON HYDRO Acting President Hinds noted too that focus is currently being put on hydropower and stressed the benefits of this move. Despite the setback in Parliament for the Amaila Falls development, hydropower offers the only realistic potential for much lower cost electricity and increased security. Accordingly, government is continuing to pursue ways to realise the development of the Amaila Falls site. Under the Memorandum of Understanding entered into between the Governments of Guyana and Brazil for the development of certain infrastructure projects for mutual benefit, a very favourable preliminary study was submitted for harnessing sites on the Upper and Lower Mazaruni. There were similar studies in the 1970s – the problems highlighted then have been taken into account – the area that may be flooded has been reduced by 80 per cent. Government has been facilitating the two proposed gold mines at Aurora and Teparo to study potential nearby hydropower sites on the Cuyuni and Kurupung Rivers, respectively. Written By Vanessa Narine

According to Rev

the Private Sector are not Cuffy Lovers...

They are Ramotar, Jagdeo & Kwame Lovers...

Rev...Is Sam Hinds Vex

because De Private Sector

is not Cuffy Lovers...

Rev is Sam saying De Private Sector

are Thieving Crab Louse & Smugglers