GUYANA Power & Light Inc. (GPL) Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mr. Bharat Dindyal, said on Monday that the prepaid metering project is selling itself, and is the preferred choice of consumers countrywide.

He made these remarks in announcing at a press conference in the utility’s Duke Street, Kingston, Georgetown headquarters that the service provider has since ordered 12,000 more such meters.
Dindyal said demand for the prepaid meters is so high that it is placing a significant burden on GPL, because the order GPL placed costs US$1.2M.
He pointed out that prepaid meters are provided and installed by GPL free of charge, but the delivery costs the company US$130 each.
Dindyal remarked: “I think we no longer need to sell prepaid meters. Almost all the consumers who are using these meters have good things to say, to the extent that people are coming in large numbers asking to be converted from post-paid to prepaid; but the problem for us is keeping up with that demand.”
When GPL introduced the prepaid metering system for domestic and small businesses, sections of Georgetown and Berbice were chosen to conduct pilot schemes. Places chosen in Georgetown were the Bourda Market; Newtown, Kitty; and parts of Festival City in North Ruimveldt; and in Berbice, Black Bush Polder was chosen because it is representative of the wider society.
GPL did the introduction with two types of meters, the Cashpower Power Rail Split and the Jade Split. Those come in two parts: the actual meter, and an interface unit commonly referred to as the Customer Interface Unit (CIU).
The CIU is a 12-key keypad with audible feedback that allows for the entry of tokens and the accessing of various management functions. It has a custom liquid crystal display which shows the remaining credit among other features. Each customer will be provided a pamphlet outlining the available features and how to access them.
The CIU is mainly a remote extension of the meter, and communication between the two units takes place in real time. It can be set to information mode by the entry of a three-digit code by the customer.  In this mode, electricity consumption over the current or past 30 days or 24 hours can be displayed. These, along with the display of instantaneous power consumption, can aid the consumer in prudent management of electrical energy.
The CIU provides both visible and audible alarms to indicate that the credit level is at or below preset “low level” limits. It does not measure power consumption, and damage to the unit and/or communication cable will in no way interfere with the provision of electricity to the consumer, or the related decrease in available credit. However, such damage will prevent consumers from entering a new voucher into the meter when the available credit expires. To avoid the inconvenience, consumers are encouraged to take care of the CIU and the communication cable.
The Pubic Relations Department, which can be contacted on telephone number 225-1471, fax 231-0105 or e-mail publicrelations@gplinc.com, recommends the prepaid meter as great for energy conservation.
It said: “If you find that you are using too much energy, you can respond immediately by turning off appliances within your home. You will never believe you can save so much in electricity until you start monitoring your own use.”