— promises better service this year

DESITE recording a revenue collection decrease in 2017, the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) has promised better service this year.

And the Power Producers and Distributors Incorporation (PPDI) believes that it can support GPL with quality and ample power.

GPL Deputy Chief Executive Officer (DCEO) Elwyn Marshall and PPDI Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Arron Fraser expressed the optimism at a year-end press conference on December 28.

“Despite numerous challenges, GPL has managed to perform creditable in 2017 and credit must be given to the hard-working staff, especially those in the transmission and distribution sections who have been forced to work under extremely adverse conditions… there has still been no noticeable improvement in our customer relations efforts,” said Marshall.

According to Marshall, the company’s revenue collection rate slipped from 103.7 per cent in 2016 to 93.9 per cent in 2017.
Although the reason for the reduction was not stated, statistics showed that GPL recorded a net revenue of $28,456,224,000 ($28.4B) last year as opposed to $29,088,181,000 ($29B) in 2016.

Marshal said despite the odds, GPL was able to expand its network to provide electricity to areas such as Yarrowkabra, Den Heuval Housing Scheme, New Savannah Housing Scheme and Friendship Squatting Area.
PPDI generated 596,000 megawatts of electricity for last year and most of these projects are powered by this company.

PPDI, which is a fairly new company, replaced former producers Wärtsila early last year, and within that year GPL was able to save US$2.1 million.
The power producing company charges the utility company a fixed rate of US$16.87 per megawatt of electricity as compared to Wärtsila’s proposed US$20.51 for 2017.
Asked whether the decision to take over management of the engines from Wärtsila was a good one, Fraser responded in the affirmative.

In addition, Fraser said despite charging less, the company was still able to achieve its projected targets, and as a result, all planned major engine overhauls were completed.
However, Fraser said though PPDI has recorded notable successes, it continues to face major challenges. Some of these include convincing the public that quality of service would not be affected; understanding the dynamics of the supply chain; and transition from private to public corporation way of working and growth.

The company will be addressing these challenges, he said as it seeks to improve its image in 2018.

Some of PPDI’s major activities for 2018 include 10 planned major engine overhauls; major rehabilitation of plant auxiliary equipment; the implementation of International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) 9000; and cross plant training with regional utilities by utilising clean technology.