– says September commissioning of new Kingston plant expected to solve capacity shortfall problem
The Guyana Power and Light (GPL) is urging all consumers to make an extra effort to reduce their power consumption, as they have confirmed that this is one of the main reasons why consumers in Demerara have been experiencing an inordinate level of unscheduled load shedding.

GPL in a press release noted that invariably more load shedding is done than what is published in the print media every Sunday. The weekly load shedding guide is based on forecasted generation availability, which generally varies between 63 and 66 Mega Watts (MW). This would normally allow all circuits to be powered during the day but requires about 4 MW load shedding during the evening.

In actuality however, over the past two weeks, the demand during business hours has exceeded 65 MW also necessitating load shedding, the release stated.

Due to the unusually high demand, it is not possible to undertake maintenance during the day and return service for the evening peak, without the imposition of load shedding.

The release also noted the regular power interruptions on the West Coast Demerara, which were due to the increase in demand.

GPL is appealing to consumers to conserve electricity use, particularly during the evening peak period from 18:00h -21:00h.

Meanwhile, construction of the new 20.7 MW plant at Kingston is moving apace and commissioning is expected to commence in late September. Upon its completion, the plant will have the capacity to meet the current demand.