THE Guyana Power and Light Inc.(GPL)has been undertaking several initiatives to improve its customer service countrywide, with the latest being the electronic billing (E-billing) service which allows customers to access their monthly bills, electronically. This initiative was triggered by the increase in the use of Information Technology, and Government’s effort to move steadfastly forward in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector by way of installing fibre optic cables, drafting legislation, making internet access more affordable, and the distribution of laptops through the One Laptop Per Family (OLPF) programme.
According to GPL’s Director of Information Technology and Commercial Service, Renford Homer, GPL recognises that it can leverage this technology, and that has been the genesis for the reason of the E-billing service which allows customers to be able to receive an electronic monthly bill as against the traditional hard copy bill that is normally dispatched by post.
During an interview on Wednesday at the company’s quarterly retreat at Cara Lodge, Quamina Street, Homer said the initiative is not only beneficial to customers, but is a spin-off of what GPL is already doing to improve its services.
“One of the benefits is the reduction of time it takes for the bill to get to the customer…we generate those bills and then have them prepared to be sent off to the post offices; with the introduction of E-billing, once the customers are registered to GPL, as soon as the bill is generated it will be immediately dispatched to the customers electronically,” Homer pointed out.
GPL customers can register by logging onto the company’s website on www.gplinc.com after which they are guided to where the registration is to be done. The customers are required to produce their name, bill and account number, and once the system validates that information, the customer is accepted and as early as the next month, the bill will be sent to their email.
GPL has a customer base of 174,000 which spreads across Regions 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7.
In addition to the E-billing initiative, Homer said that the company has several commercial offices spread across those regions, but due to the shift and change in the daily lives of customers, a lot of people leave their homes and travel long distances to conduct business and to work, hence it would be hectic for them to stand in long lines at those offices.
In 2000, GPL introduced several agents starting with the post offices, then Bill Express which has an extensive network, commercial banks and Neal and Massy and then went into an arrangement with  Guyana Telephone and Telegraph’s, Mobile Money.
“The aim is to put the company’s presence out there as much as we can, and bring it close to the customers as possible, and that allows for our customers to have that ease of knowing that they can easily get to places to pay their bills, and reduce the congestion of large numbers of persons who enter the commercial offices,” Homer added.
Aside from being a service provider for electricity, GPL’s role is to ensure that it is in line with these changes, and as a result the company is constantly making efforts to improve its services with best practices and ensure a high level of customer service.

(GINA)