THE Guyana Power and Light Incorporated (GPL) was, on Thursday, forced to shut down all power generating units at its Garden of Eden, East Bank of Demerara (EBD) facility, after a 16.7 MVA transformer caught fire at around 14:22hrs. According to a statement from the utility company, the loss of 27 megawatts, as a result of the fire, caused a cascading effect, disrupting service to all customers in the Demerara-Berbice Interconnected System (DBIS). At the time of the interruption, the DBIS was generating approximately 132 megawatts of power. Remedial efforts to restore power, however, commenced immediately thereafter with the first area being repowered at approximately 14:27hrs, while incremental restoration continued, and the final area was repowered at approximately 15:22hrs. “Accordingly, our Engineers are currently executing a technical investigation to determine the root cause of the fire,” GPL said, adding: “The GPL offers sincere apology for the inconvenience caused and is committed to providing quality service to you our valued customers.”