IMPROVED emergency response times in critical zones such as the East Coast of Demerara (ECD) and Georgetown are some of the key objectives of the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) as they aim to improve their customer-support mechanisms.
This was explained by GPL’s Divisional Director of Commercial Services, Rhonda La Fargue, during a stakeholders’ meeting at the Herdmanston Lodge on Friday. La Fargue said “as it relates to the responsiveness, we are working on increasing our teams and we have also reduced our response times.”

Ordinarily, upon calling to make an emergency report, one would be advised that a team will be out within 24 hours to address the emergency. With these new measures being implemented, GPL guarantees that a team will respond to emergencies within 12 hours of an emergency call .

La Fargue further explained, “If it’s a minor emergency they can fix it, if it’s major it may take a little longer, but you should have some action within 12 hours and we’re working as much as possible as soon as we get reports to see how soon we can actually have the crews at your location to have your problem resolved.”

As regards applications for new meters, persons will now be able to submit the necessary documentation online so when they visit the office, the process will move a lot faster. GPL also has a goal for the time taken to fulfil these applications. “We are moving for the fulfilment of applications within 12 days, that is for residential customers where no capital works are required and we are working on seeing how we can best reduce this time because I know this is one of the concerns of customers, after the application is done the time it takes to have the installation of the meter,” La Fargue said. The major constraint in this regard is the unavailability of the preferred pre-paid meter type. To address this, steps have been taken to streamline the procurement process, so that there is a steady flow of the meters available for installation. (DPI)