ANY cut to the budgetary allocation for 2013 to the Guyana Power and Light Incorporated (GPL) has severe implications for the provision of an efficient supply of electricity to the 164,000 customers, warns GPL’s Chief Executive Officer Mr Bharat Dindyal. And the CEO has underscored that reduction of the sums intended for GPL will significantly hinder its ongoing infrastructural development projects.

The power company sounded this caution in light of public statements of the intention to reduce the government’s proposed $11.20B budgetary allocation for 2013 that was presented in the National Assembly by Finance Minister, Dr. Ashni Singh.

Dindyal noted that, at present, the power company has several major projects being executed simultaneously under a loan agreement between the Government of Guyana and China Exim Bank for the construction of, among other facilities, seven new substations which are expected to be completed by the end of 2013.
At present, also, three of these substations have been completed and are in service providing a much improved quality of electricity supply to customers on the West Coast Demerara.
However, there are others on the East Coast Demerara which are currently under construction along with almost one hundred kilometers of 69 KV transmission lines, GPL said in a statement yesterday.

LOAD SHEDDING IMPLICATIONS

In highlighting the implications of the proposed cuts, Dindyal is quoted as saying: “If the projects are not completed this year, we foresee serious problems in GPL’s ability to deliver services to supply the increased demand for electricity in Demerara and Berbice. The equipment is here and the construction work is in progress but if we do not have the finances to pay the contractors, works would have to be halted.

As a result, GPL would experience serious network challenges in East Demerara and Berbice and would be forced to resort to statutory load shedding to ensure the network capacity is not exceeded during peak demand hours.”
Over the years, GPL has worked assiduously to ensure that its customers are not subject to frequent tariff increases “while we are allowed through our licence  to apply tariff increases, the company will forgo $28B in tariff increases to the end of this year, cushioning the impact of the volatile fuel prices internationally,” GPL’s CEO said.

MAJOR SETBACKS

Dindyal also confirmed that apart from major infrastructural setbacks that would be experienced, a number of other small projects, including metering for new customers, would be severely affected. “We would have to stop taking new customers sometime this year because we do not have the money to buy new meters.”
As a state owned entity, the budgetary allocation to GPL’s customers are intended to help the company foot its ever-increasing fuel bill which is expected to be over $24.7B this year, the release pointed out.
Capital allocations also finance upgrades and expansion of the utility company to meet the growing electricity demands of the country, the release noted, adding that from 1992 to the present, the peak demand of the Demerara system has increased from about 33 MW to 87 MW.a