BUSINESSES and residents in sections of the Essequibo Coast have just about had it with the persistent power outages over the last six days.
“We tired of the Guyana Power and Light (GPL),” said President of the Essequibo Chamber

of Commerce, Deelep Singh, who said that places such as Anna Regina and Charity have either been without electricity or have been experiencing ‘load shedding’ for days on end.

Due to the prolonged power outages, he said, people have had to throw out a lot of perishable stock, because they’d either gone off, or were on the verge of doing so.
Chairman of Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), Devanand Ramdatt, in a statement on his Facebook page, not only decried the frequency of the blackouts, but the lack of communication as well.

“The lack of information created discomfort to residents, particularly small entrepreneurs, and by extension the business community, who were caught unprepared,” Singh said, adding that they expect to hear from the relevant authorities how they plan addressing the situation.

Residents commented under the Chairman’s Facebook post, saying that GPL’s omission to advise them in a timely manner is an arrant disregard for the people of Region Two.

“Since Friday we are without power; we get little electricity on and off, then it cut off again… I had meat, fish and food in my fridge! All spoil!” lamented one resident.
For some, no electricity usually means no water and no phone to use, Singh said.
The Guyana Chronicle understands that the region suffers from persistent power outages from time to time, but according to Singh, this is the longest they’ve ever been without electricity.

He said that on many occasions, he and Ramdatt have had to call a meeting with the GPL branch manager to discuss the situation, but there is little else they can do.
“We have two generators here, and from all indications, those two have outlived their workable capacity,” Singh said, adding that GPL workers have been salvaging the parts of one of the generators to repair another.
This publication was informed that even the police station does not have a stand-by generator.

GPL Public Relations Officer, Shevon Sears, told this publication on Sunday that the company is well aware of the situation in areas such as Anna Regina, Supenaam and La Union.
She, however, noted that it is not a case of consistent blackouts, but rather a matter of load- shedding, which is caused by a dysfunctional engine, and that engineers are working on having it repaired.