ELECTRICAL power was fully restored to Lethem in Region 9 (Upper Essequibo/Upper Takutu) on Saturday evening, following three days of a total outage and four days of a five-hour-a-day rationing which began on Saturday, February 8th last.Chairman of the Lethem Power Company Inc. (LMPCI) Mr. John Macedo, disclosed yesterday that one of two new generators acquired for the company was installed at Lethem on Saturday, allowing the company to resume full generation of electricity around 17:00 hrs the same day.

Another generator of the same type was installed and commissioned yesterday by a representative of the suppliers, FG Wilson Company of Northern Ireland.
The two brand new generators each generate three-quarters of a megawatt of electricity.
Residents are relieved that power has finally been fully restored to the community. They expressed hope that the two sets would be well cared for by staff of the LMPCI.

Meanwhile, Chairman Macedo has said that the generator installed on Sunday will serve as a standby, thereby guaranteeing Lethem and its environs a great deal of certainty about non-recurrence of the recent seven-day power-loss ordeal for the foreseeable future.

Both generators at the LMPCI had broken down on Saturday, February 8th last, leaving that and contiguous communities completely without electricity for nearly four days, until a five-hour system of rationing was implemented on Tuesday last.

Macedo had disclosed mid-last week that the company had recorded some success in alleviating the electricity woes of the residents and business people by dividing the village into three sections and providing each section with five hours of electricity per day. He said the LMPCI had also provided fuel for the operations of the Guyana Water Inc. at Lethem, so GWI could use a generator to pump water for 24 hours to the community in the absence of power from the company.

Business people in the community, in particular, complained of being hardest hit, some saying that they had been expending as much as $15,000 per day on fuel for standby generators, in order to keep their businesses open.
Macedo said that, given the newness of the generators installed over the weekend, and one being kept as a standby, the future, electricity-wise, looks bright for the village and its environs.
Written By Clifford Stanley