THE Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) has ruled that New Thriving Restaurant and Fast Food, operating in Guyana, must settle a debt of $13,768,937 to the Guyana Power and Light Inc (GPL).
In a ruling announced on Tuesday concerning the case of Che Jain Ping and Xiao Guang Zhao v GPL, the court upheld the decision made by the Court of Appeal of Guyana.

Che and Xiao (the appellants), trading under the names “New Thriving Restaurant” and “New Thriving Fast Food,” were engaged in business activities in Guyana, while GPL functions as a public utility provider.
The dispute arose from outstanding payments owed to GPL for electricity consumed by the company from January 2002 to July 2009.

Despite monthly billing, the accumulated arrears amounted to $13,768,937 by the end of the period at reference. Legal action was initiated on October 29, 2010 in the High Court, which determined that Che and Xiao were indeed liable to pay the outstanding sum to GPL.

This decision was subsequently upheld by the Court of Appeal. The appeal to the CCJ, filed on May 12, 2023, contested the Court of Appeal’s ruling.
The CCJ clarified that according to Section 23 of the Electricity Sector Reform Act, a statutory contract for electricity supply is established between consumers and public electrical suppliers such as GPL.

Furthermore, the CCJ said that GPL was entitled to seek recourse through the courts under Regulation 31(2) of the Public Electricity Supply Regulations (PESR) for breaches of the supply contract.
It was concluded that GPL had fulfilled the requirements of Regulation 31(2), which allowed them to retroactively bill Che and Xiao beyond the 12-month period stipulated in the regulation and claim the full amount of arrears. Ultimately, the CCJ dismissed the appeal and affirmed the orders of the Court of Appeal.

The case was presided over by CCJ President Justice Adrian Saunders, alongside Justices Winston Anderson, Maureen Rajnauth-Lee, Denys Barrow, and Andrew Burgess.
Representing the appellants were Stephen Fraser, SC, and Attorney-at-Law Shantel Scott-Lall, while Timothy M. Jonas, SC, and Attorney-at-Law Krystal Abrams appeared on behalf of the power company.