GPL facing high demand for prepaid meters 
GPL CEO, Bharat Dindyal
GPL CEO, Bharat Dindyal

WITH advantages such as being able to self-monitor consumption, and avoid reconnection charges, more and more consumers are interested in receiving prepaid meters from the Guyana Power and Light (GPL). This demand has resulted in a backlog of over 10,000 requests, according to GPL’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Bharat Dindyal.
Dindyal told a virtual panel discussion organised by the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) under the theme “Energy and Electricity: What we should all know”, that there was a push back when GPL first rolled out prepaid meters in 2013. Guyanese consumers now have a preference for them, he said.
However, the electrical company no longer imports the meters and is currently using the meters under the Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI).
“Although we stopped importing the prepaid and continued with AMI, there is still high demand [for the prepaid]. Right now we have an interest for about 10,000 prepaid meters. [But] rather than continue with the prepaid we realise the AMI was vastly superior; we could track consumer consumption based on season and time of use,” Dindyal related.
He further explained that the AMI system has the ability to convert to functioning as a prepaid system; however, this will require some amount of new infrastructure being put in place. The company is currently working on this aspect.

“The AMI communication infrastructure has not been installed so it’s not providing the kind of information that consumers value. Hopefully next year we will build out the communication infrastructure to make our AMI meters capable of being prepaid or postpaid mode,” Dindyal shared.
Also speaking at Friday’s engagement was consumer advocate, Dexter George, who also highlighted the benefits that the prepaid meter has been affording consumers.
“The Prepaid meter was a great initiative because what it does is gives you power to control your spending. In the past you consume electricity and you hope they come with a bill relevant to your budget and it’s a lot of running around and frustration on the consumer in rectifying a bill. There are also lots of situations where the meter reading process is incorrect and it’s a back and forth with a lot of time wasting. But with the prepaid meter you know how much is consumed; how much is left. If you are disconnected that’s your fault and not on GPL,” George said.
He called on GPL to be proactive in returning to prepaid meters.

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