A SERIES of power outages that occurred within the last week caused Bartica residents considerable inconvenience, and the Guyana Power and Light Inc. issued a press statement yesterday afternoon expressing sincerest apologies for the unfortunate incident.

That release disclosed that the Numbers Eight and Nine Caterpillar generating sets had experienced technical faults which caused the outages.

GPL said it had recently performed corrective repairs on the No.9 set and that the engine remains in service to date, although, as of Monday last; the company has been unable to utilise its full output because of a defective main switch.

To install the replacement switch yesterday, the company said, necessitated a total outage of approximately one hour.

The power company noted that the No. 8 unit was placed in service for a short period on Wednesday night, after repairs were affected to mechanical faults identified, and checks on the alternator had been completed.

Unfortunately, the unit developed further mechanical problems, but repairs should be completed by Friday, GPL said.

The GPL release disclosed that, in the interim, the company would be forced to engage in load shedding during the peak period between 17.30hrs and 22.00hrs.

The company has said that those extended outages were unforeseen, and it wishes to reassure the residents that it remains committed to restoring reliable power and to continuously improve on its services.

The power company has said that the remainder of this year would witness commencement of preparatory works for a New 3 x 2 MW HFO-fired power station at Bartica.

Customers seeking further information are advised to contact the Public Relations Office on 225-1471 or 226-1323.

The power company wishes to thank its customers for their cooperation and understanding.