– losses still high although theft diminishing
– frequency conversion to save company US$1.5M per year
The Guyana Power and Light (GPL) will this year be adding capacity to its generation of power even as it continues its loss reduction efforts and modernising of the sector through frequency conversion which will result in significant savings, said CEO Bharat Dindyal.
“We have completed the evaluation for the bids for the foundation works and I should say that the quantities were based on preliminary quantities extracted from the 20.7 megawatt project,” Dindyal said during an interview yesterday, alluding to reports in another section of the media which questioned the propriety of the procurement process with insinuations of irregularities being committed.
“We have completed geotechnical investigation of the site and we have sent that report up to Wartsila. We are expecting that in about three weeks’ time we will receive the preliminary design from Wartsila for the foundation works which will enable the contractor to start work on the site,” he said.
“[GPL] has submitted evaluation to central tender recommending a particular contractor. Based on the current schedule from Wartsila, we are expected to complete the foundation by mid-April and commercial operations should begin by the end of August.
“We are expecting that by late next month or latest mid-March, the engines will be completed by the factory and tested. These are 7.8 megawatts each for a total extension of 15.6 megawatts,” he said. The first 20.7 power generating package was delivered towards the end of 2009.
Speaking on interventions that the company intends to make this year, Dindyal said, “We have some major upgrade works to do at the existing Wartsila plants at Kingston and at Garden of Eden. For the 50 hertz plant at Kingston, we have to upgrade all the radiators and replace them [and also replace an exhaust gas silencer]. At Kingston also we are proposing to do the frequency conversion of the plant from 50 to 60 hertz.
“We have completed 12 megawatts of conversion from 50 to 60 hertz on the network side. So there are some consumers in Georgetown [bordered by] Young Street, Camp Street, Hadfield Street and Water Street, who are now 60 hertz consumers,” Dindyal said.
“At Garden of Eden, we are putting in new control modules for the entire plant. So we’re hoping that by the end of January this year we will complete the installation of the modules,” he said.
According to Dindyal, the plan is that the two old engines will be out of commission during the frequency conversion for a period of about six months. But he explained when this happens, the new engines would have already been up and running. “So when we take the 11 megawatts out, we will have 15 megawatts to fill the [shortfall],” Dindyal said.
He said that the company will have 64.7 megawatts to which 15.6 megawatts will be added when the frequency conversion works are completed.

Less government support
The CEO said that in 2008 the Government intervened at the height of the fuel crisis in terms of prices in order to avert a second increase of the utility’s tariff – the first increase coming in February of 2008 after which the price of fuel continued to increase. He said the fuel prices came down in 2009 and that same year the company recorded a profit. He said the numbers are still to come in for 2010 and the company has had no further interventions from the State to support GPL where fuel prices are concerned.

Losses
The CEO said that losses have increased since 2005, despite a number of interventions in terms of frequency conversion, a strong anti-theft campaign and the introduction of prepaid meters, which are lessening non-technical losses.
“Technical losses have increased. They have increased from 11.4 percent at the end of 2005 to 14 percent at the end of 2009. We are estimating that it will continue to increase this year and go up to about 14.3 percent. But while we are doing that, the non-technical losses are coming down. The overall loss position at the end of this year is projected to be below 33 percent,” he said.
Offering a word of caution on the losses figures, he said that in 2009, the month of December recorded extraordinary losses, to such an extent that they eroded the gains made from the months of January to November that year.
Dindyal said that there are a number of interventions that the corporation has to make to mitigate the technical losses, including the US$40M Chinese project for the rehabilitation of the transmission and distribution system.
The frequency conversion in Georgetown which is hoped to be completed next year will allow the company to retire the frequency converters. Dindyal said that the converters lead to the loss of five million units of electricity annually – or US$1.5 million.

Prepaid meters
Dindyal said from this month the company will be imposing the use of the prepaid meter on persons found tampering with their post-paid meters and involved in other forms of electricity theft.
Speaking with the Guyana Chronicle in an interview on Tuesday, Dindyal said that this measure will be in addition to the other punitive actions that will be taken against those persons for their infringement of the Electricity Sector Reform Act.
Dindyal said there is a continuous trickling in of consumers who ask for the prepaid meters; but in 2011, the company will be only offering prepaid meters to new residential consumers and for tariff B consumers who are served by single phase, two-wire, 120-240 volt meters up to 80 amps and single phase three-wire meters up to 80 amps.
“So all new contracts for 2011 will be served by prepaid meters…in addition to that the law has been amended and we now have the ability, when persons are caught stealing electricity or tampering with the meter, to impose the prepaid meter on them,” he said.
The CEO further stated that the regulations now in place allow for the company to submit a plan for prepaid meters among post-paid consumers, “so we could define a category of consumer, we could define a geographic area and submit that plan to the [Prime] Minister for approval,” he said. Dindyal added that when the approval is received, the company would be able to go into those areas and install the prepaid meters.
“So we have a bit more leverage now in trying to roll out the prepaid meters more widely. I would say that people who have the prepaid meter are basically very happy, because they now have the ability to manage their consumption. It is a lot less stressful having the prepaid meter because of payment of bills,  bill due dates, meter readers, estimations and all those things – all those ills that people complain to us about could be addressed by the prepaid meter,” Dindyal said.