GUYANA Power & Light (GPL), in its continuing drive to curb electricity theft, has removed 800 illegal connections in Berbice, including at Black Bush Polder, Crabwood Creek and Alness, all on Corentye.

Others were at D’Edward, West Coast Berbice and Mount Sinai, West Canje.

GPL investigator Mark Johnson told the Guyana Chronicle that, because of the illicit practice, the utility’s transformers are, often times, overloaded and destroyed, resulting in the loss of millions of dollars from consumers who do not pay for the service.

He said, at Black Bush Polder, the agricultural community where users have pre-paid meters, they attach clips to the service lines, preventing used current from being registered.

Johnson said the disconnection crews have a 24-hour mandate to nab the thieves who are not paying bills and, while their efforts have yielded results, there are repeat offenders.

At Mount Sinai, primarily in Angoy’s Avenue, a squatting area on the eastern fringe of New Amsterdam, several persons are taken to Court every week for stealing electricity.

This newspaper was informed that the squatting area has not been regularized, due to an ongoing Court issue involving the Government and New Amsterdam Town Council.

Consequently, residents there are dwelling on non-transported land and the requirements, prior to applying for electricity from GPL, are that the applicant must possess a transport, lease or a tenancy agreement.

Meanwhile, Shawn Pydanna, of High Dam, Angoy’s Avenue, was the latest to be fined $25,000, with the alternative of 12 weeks imprisonment, for stealing electricity.

In addition, Magistrate Adela Nagamootoo, before whom he appeared at New Amsterdam Court, imposed a one year suspended prison sentence on him, after he pleaded guilty to the offence.