THE Guyana Power and Light (GPL) over the last few days has been experiencing a major emergency on the transmission line extending from Canje to West Coast Berbice, resulting in widespread power outage affecting several villages along  West Berbice.

This power outage has disrupted the Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) services, leaving consumers without water.
GWI, in a press release yesterday, advised that all its customers from Ithaca to DeHoop, West Coast Berbice, will be experiencing a water service disruption due to the power failure affecting West Berbice.
However, GWI noted that customers served by the Cotton Tree Water Treatment Plant are not affected.
In the meantime, the water company said it will continue to advise customers on the prevailing situation as information becomes available from GPL.
GWI customers are asked to call 227-8701, 8703 or 8704 for information on their water service.
Meanwhile, GPL at present does not know exactly where along the transmission line the problem lies, but the crews are working diligently.
While GPL has not issued an advisory, some residents have noted that the company is working feverishly to find and correct the problem.
The spate of blackouts started on Good Friday, residents said, and the electricity has been going on and off.  Since then, GPL has deployed three crews to the affected areas and they are working literally on a ‘pole by pole’ basis, along the Number 69 transmission line to find the fault.
Residents in Ithaca yesterday lamented the inconvenience caused, but say they understand that there is nothing more that the GPL can do other than the intense searches they have been conducting.
They recalled seeing trucks carrying linesmen and technicians way down into the backdam on Monday and yesterday.
The good thing, according to residents, is that occasionally they have been getting some power at nights.  The crews would work the entire day when they are forced to take the power off and restore power at nights.
Meanwhile, the Guyana Chronicle made several attempts to solicit a comment yesterday from GPL, but this proved futile.