-till M&CC submits payment plan for outstanding debt
DEPUTY Mayor of Georgetown, Mr. Robert Williams said Thursday the only indebtedness of the Council at present to Guyana Power and Light Inc. (GPL) is for street lighting.

Officials of the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) of Georgetown had hoped that with the exchange of cheques last Tuesday, GPL would have restored electricity to all the agencies associated with the Council that were disconnected.

However, GPL seems adamant that electricity will not be restored to City Hall unless the Council prepares and submits a payment plan for its outstanding amount.

After issuing cheques in favour of each other to the value of $179,496,876, GPL freed itself entirely from its obligations to the municipality, but the M&CC still owes approximately $440M to the power company.

In light of the arrangement that was reached between the parties, GPL was willing to restore power to City Hall, if the Council disclosed how it was going to pay the amount outstanding.

Speaking with the Guyana Chronicle at his office Thursday, Mr. Williams implied that the Council finds it difficult to reconcile the fact that GPL has opted not to restore power to some of the Council’s agencies, while choosing not to disconnect street lights.

He explained that the amount that the municipality paid over last Wednesday included sums to clear the Council’s 27 properties, with only an amount for street lights remaining.

Williams questioned the reason for GPL not restoring power to the departments that were paid for, while choosing not to disconnect street lights for which service there are still monies outstanding.

He said the municipality is proposing that from January 1, 2010, after the submission of meters reading, it will pay all of its current bills on time.

According to him, the Council is also proposing to have the government involved in all discussions to determine a way forward, because its budget cannot include street lighting as there has been no increase in property taxes.

Two more suggestions by the Council, Williams said, are that GPL should collect a fixed sum from every customer to represent an amount for the cost of street lighting and that payment is made for any installation on the Council’s reserves.

Williams said these proposals would have been submitted to GPL in writing by yesterday afternoon.

After exchanging cheques earlier this week, Chairman of the Public Utilities Commission (PUC), Mr. Prem Persaud, said the amount issued will discharge GPL’s rates and taxes up to and including 2009 ($116,891,749) together with $62,605,127, representing Guyana Electricity Corporation (GEC)’s obligation to M&CC.

He said both parties have agreed to waive any and all interest charges, and that the amount does not include rates for GPL’s property at Kingston, Georgetown, on which was built a 20.7 MW power plant.

He further stated that the M&CC’s cheque will partially discharge its obligation for electricity charges owing as at December 2009 and that the M&CC has not yet finalized its payment plan for their outstanding amount to GPL.

Persaud offered that the payment plan was not prepared likely due to the fact that Deputy Mayor/Chairman of the Finance Committee Mr. Robert Williams and Town Clerk (Ag) Ms Yonnette Pluck were unwell.

GPL and M&CC have been at loggerheads for a number of weeks and electricity has been disconnected from various municipal buildings, including all the departments at City Hall.

GPL had initially claimed that M&CC has been unwilling to reconcile the $600M in electricity bills owed to the Company.

After disconnecting all departments at City Hall and other municipal buildings, GPL last week threatened to disconnect the electricity supply to the Kitty and La Penitence markets had the M&CC fail to honour agreements that were reached between the parties at one of their meetings.

However, according to reports reaching the Chronicle, subsequent to the intervention of the PUC, the disconnections did not take place.

Seeking the intervention of the PUC was one of three options that were decided on by the M&CC at a meeting in the Council’s chamber on December 7, as a result of threats by GPL to disconnect electricity to two municipal markets.

Seeking an injunction against GPL and having the involvement of the Minister of Local Government Mr. Kellawan Lall, were the other options available.