GOVERNMENT intends to ensure that whatever is needed by the Guyana Power and Light Inc.(GPL) to supply citizens with reliable electricity will be provided.

GPL on Wednesday disclosed through its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Albert Gordon that it is in need of US$150M to fix the power company. Gordon’s statements came amid constant power outages across the country. The CEO said while the company is working to provide reliable service to the people of Guyana, that process is not without its challenges. As such, he explained that it requires some US$110M to address firstly, the system deficiencies and another US$40M to fix the generators at the power company.

Gordon at a meet-and-greet event held at the Pegasus Hotel said the system failure is as a result of the existing system configuration. However, Minister of State Joseph Harmon on Thursday told reporters at a post-cabinet press briefing held at the Ministry of the Presidency that, while Cabinet has not been briefed about the financial needs of the power company to remedy the issues it faces, government is inclined to do what it takes to ensure that citizens benefit from reliable power supply.

“It is not a matter that has actually come to cabinet as yet for cabinet to make a deliberation on it, but certainly whatever is necessary to be done to ensure that our citizens have a continuous reliable supply of energy for domestic use and industrial use, that is the direction in which the government is going,” Harmon assured.

He told reporters that Government is examining various forms of energy to ensure that the country has a reliable supply of same. “So what GPL is doing now is putting out a futuristic position which says this is what we would need, not just to fix the situation but to prepare and to give you a certain level of power that is assured, sustainable and that you can basically plan your lives around it,” said the Minister of State.

Meanwhile, the GPL’s CEO explained Wednesday that the configuration of the power lines which connect to homes are connected directly to GPL’s generators and this should not be. He noted that the power is first generated, then there is an increased voltage to power lines, then the power is sent to a sub-station and the voltage is then reduced and distributed to homes. Additionally, Gordon disclosed that a number of lines leave the

Kingston power station and if a tree falls on the lines, the entire system shuts down. Moreover, there is not a lot of redundancy to provide back-up power. Because of this, if a line goes down or is taken out of the system for maintenance, there would be a power outage.