–consumers have faced no increases despite global economic conditions, other challenges, Prime Minister Phillips highlights

PRIME Minister, Brigadier (Ret’d) Mark Phillips, has highlighted that notwithstanding shocks and increases in fuel prices, electricity costs for consumers have not increased since the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) administration was elected to office in 2020.
The Prime Minister made this known while discussing a budgetary allocation that was approved for the Guyana Power and Light Incorporated (GPL).

“We have not increased the rate of electricity for the households, and for any of the consumers from the time we have taken office, notwithstanding the shocks that would have seen fuel prices going through the roof on many occasions and other issues suffered by GPL,” Phillips told the Parliamentary Committee of Supply.
The Prime Minister said that this year, GPL is projected to utilise some 2,462,380 barrels of fuel with an average cost of USD$104 per barrel.

However, at the current fuel price, it was noted that GPL can procure 1,657,371 barrels of fuel at the current customer tariff without any increase to consumer rates.
As such, he added that GPL needs funding to procure an additional 805,009 barrels of fuel at approximately USD$104 per barrel which he indicated equates to the $18 billion allocation.
Phillips further noted that currently, consumers are paying the same rate they were paying for electricity pre-COVID-19 in Guyana.

“You have a government that did not increase electricity rates in five years,” he said while noting that they also moved to remove VAT from these rates and offer subsidies to old-age pensioners, among other things.
Over the years, demand for electricity has grown across Guyana significantly which has been triggered by the unprecedented development that has been taking place across the country.
The government, however, has ensured that it pursues avenues to address the growing demand.

To this end, the PPP/C administration has been looking at several projects to address the demand and also foster Guyana’s energy transformation.
One of those projects, the transformational Gas-to-Energy (GtE) Project is currently underway with the simple cycle for the project set to come on stream by November of this year. The implementation of the GtE is set to slash electricity costs for consumers by 50 per cent.