Dear Editor,

I HUMBLY ask that this letter be published in your newspaper in which I seek to express my frustration and disappointment at Guyana Power & Light for not keeping their side of the bargain and completely sidelining me, a faithful citizen, student and public servant of this country.

On April, 26, 2017, at 11:17:21 hrs, I paid Guyana Power & Light, hereafter referred to as GPL, $19,360 for an electrical meter to be placed at my residence. This payment was rightfully made after I wired my house and received a certificate from a certified electrician.

I was informed by GPL that a representative will come to inspect the premises and I would be further advised.  Sometime later, on another date which I can’t remember, the inspection was done and I was told that further assessments had to be made, given that capital works would have to be done in order for me to get electricity.

After much running to GPL, begging, calling, texting them on Facebook and using every conceivable means of communication, I was then called to uplift an invoice for the amount of money the capital works would cost, this was on June 2, 2017 — from April 26, 2017.

Based on the information received, the capital works would cost $213,781, GPL’s contribution would be $81,268, which would leave an amount of $132,513, then VAT was added of $18,552, bringing up the money to a grand total of $151,065.

Based on the this invoice, signed by Silviena Charles, the manager for the Customer Services Centre, it stated that this service “may not be realised for as long as nine weeks after the capital contribution has been paid.”

I paid the money in two parts, the first payment was made on June 7th 2017, and the secon was made on July 5th, 2017. Editor as I type this letter it’s September 14th 2017 and not a post has been planted, not a wire run, not a meter attached.
I called the Engineering Department, the Victoria Outpost which is responsible for doing the works based on information received. I am receiving promises that the work will be done and every day I come home, I look with faith to the skies in the hope to see a post planted, but nothing.

I studied with phone light as a student at the university. I am also a public servant and I work during the day. If that were not enough, Editor, my deepest fears were realised during the hours of 3:00 o’clock Wednesday and 10:00 hrs Wednesday night. A thief came and took my flat-screen smart TV, ripping out my back door in the process. Editor, maybe, just maybe, if I had my electricity and had an opportunity to put on cameras on my house or my outside lights, that could have served as a deterrent to the thief or someone would have at least seen and given a shout, but none of that was possible. They took my television, for which I had four months more to make a final payment after paying for it over two years.

I am frustrated and fed up with the system. I am trying to do right, I am not stealing electricity, though I can; I am not begging anybody for electricity, I am trying as a young man to work for my own and do things the right way, but GPL is a deterrent from right practices and a hypocritical company. On advertisements, they say come into us, but even with that invitation, there is no guarantee that they would honour their words. My Account No. is 0615686 and my Customer No. is 0650694. If there is anyone who can help in anyway to beg GPL to supply the electricity that I have already paid for, I’ll be grateful.
Regards,
Samuel Gillis