CHIEF Executive Officer (CEO) of the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) Company, Bharrat Dindyal, was this past week forced to set the record straight over the power company’s decision to truck fuel to the 26MW Vreed-en-Hoop plant.Over the weekend, the privately owned Kaieteur News had alleged that one of the major problems for the multi-billion-dollar plant is the massive trucking of fuel which is expected to continue for a while until fuel lines, to a nearby new wharf built specifically for this purpose, are operational.

The publication further alleged that those millions in additional costs will now have to be borne by consumers who are already complaining about the power situation and rates.
During the commissioning of the 26MW plant earlier this week, Head of State Donald Ramotar announced that the power company would be slashing its rates by 10 percent.
Dindyal met with media operatives, the following day to provide details on how the decreased rates would be effected, and also used the opportunity to respond to questions posed by Kaieteur News reporter, Leonard Gildarie, over the fuel expenditure for the Vreed-en-Hoop generation plant.
Gildarie is the Kaieteur News reporter who was recently embroiled in a very public controversy over a secret recording of a conversation between himself and Attorney General, Anil Nandlall, which was later made public by that publication.

“Mr. Gildarie, let’s look at a couple of variables, if we didn’t bring that plant online, we would have had to continue to rely on our other sources of generation, so this would include older more inefficient units,” Dindyal

Dindyal, the power company’s CEO, in setting the record straight, said that the contents of the article published by the Kaieteur News on Sunday last do not support “the dramatic headline.”
The article was published under the caption: “Inefficiency and waste…GPL forks out millions to truck fuel across Harbour Bridge.”
According to Dindyal, however, the article is devoid of the details necessary to draw the conclusion suggested in its dramatic headline.
“First of all, there is no statement in the article as to what options GPL has which might be significantly cheaper,” said Dindyal.
The article in question sought to rubbish the power company’s decision and its accompanying cost to truck fuel, but according to Dindyal, GPL is utilising the cheapest cost and one that represents a minuscule increase on operations.
“When you look at the overall cost of operating the plant and the cost of production, it is far more economical to do that,” according to Dindyal.
Dindyal in disparaging the article said that it erroneously supposes, “We have a much more [sic] cheaper option to exercise.”
Confronted with the alternative of supplying fuel to the plant via the Demerara River by way of boat, Dindyal told reporters that in deciding on trucks to transport fuel to the Vreed-en-Hoop plant, “we also included in the evaluation the marine option…that came in far more expensive.”
He explained that there was an option to use a small marine vessel to aid in the supply of fuel for the plant, but this option turned out to be quite expensive.
The CEO made it clear that the final option would be for the large international vessels docking at the newly constructed wharf, an option according to Dindyal “we will exercise very shortly.”
He gave a timeline of less than six weeks.
Defending the resort to the use of trucks to transport fuel while the power company waits on the commissioning of its fuel line to be supplied using large international vessels, Dindyal said it costs only “a Guyana dollar to every kilowatt hour we generate there which is insignificant…it is an additional cost, but it is not what the article might want to say that it’s a burden.”
The Company’s Finance Director, Lorris Nathoo, who was also on hand for the media briefing held at GPL’s Duke Street, Kingston head office, noted too that trucking fuel will only see the power company’s expenditure increase by about US$1 per barrel, “but the more important point is if we were not trucking the fuel we would not be able to utilise the plant.”
In such a situation, the power company will have to rely on the much more expensive option of diesel generation, according to the Finance Director.
“Using diesel generation will cost us about 90 percent more than if we were to use HFO generation…so trucking the fuel pales in comparison to continuing using diesel generation,” explained Nathoo.
The Company’s Chairman of the Board of Directors, who also defended the use of the trucks to transport the fuel, told Kaieteur News’ reporter “Mr. Gildarie, let’s look at a couple of variables, if we didn’t bring that plant online we would have had to continue to rely on our other sources of generation, so this would include older more inefficient units in Berbice and other units.”
According to Brassington, the cost attached to trucking the fuel “is wiped out considerably,” since the generating engines at Vreed-en-Hoop, are in fact larger and more efficient to the fuel convergence and “we are able to use a much more cheaper HFO versus diesel.”
At present, the Demerara system is currently channelling electricity towards the Berbice grid and according to Dindyal, the electricity is delivered much cheaper than if it were generated in that county.
He committed to having the power company moving apace to having the marine transport option completed in the shortest possible period, as well as to sanction contractors that would have been found responsible for the delays.