ILLEGAL electricity connections, in some instances used to power entire streets, were Tuesday removed during a raid of Skull City, Patentia; and Long Pond, Sister’s Village on the West Bank Demerara. Soon after the exercise, several persons turned up at the company, claiming they paid sums of money for their installation.

The exercise, a joint venture between two units within the Guyana Power and Light Inc: the Loss Reduction Operation and the Loss Reduction Field Service, is part of a monthly exercise which targets different areas where customers are seeking to by-pass the system and illegally obtain the electricity service.
In addition to targeting illegal connections, the teams also looked at un-metered supply of power to customers.

In both areas, there were instances where one pole connection was used to power several houses in the streets. In the case of Skull City, which is a squatting settlement, it was found that a pole had wires running in all directions, and in many instances, these illegal connections were running on the ground to homes.
In other instances, the pre-paid boxes on some of the poles were found to be empty, as they were just being used as a cover for the illegal connections.
However, a few residents in Skull City and a smaller number in Long Pond had receipts to show that they were in fact paying for their power connection. These residents claimed that they visited the GPL office with their house documents and paid for the connection. They said that persons from GPL, wearing the company’s badge and in the company’s vehicles, visited their homes and made the necessary connections.
One resident in Skull City claimed that her common-law husband paid as much as $75,000 to be hooked up for connection to the pre-paid meter box, and that a GPL personnel set up the pole for that connection; but to date the actual meter has not been installed.

Senior Manager, Loss Reduction Unit, Loknauth Singh, told the Government Information Agency that, “There seems to be an element of collusion between residents and GPL staff.”

Singh stated that GPL has pole specifications and those used were basically four-by-four pieces of wood which is dangerous to humans and animals.
He said the areas are not regularised housing areas, and especially Skull City, which is swampy, is unsuitable for running transmission lines.  He said if the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) authorises electrifying the area, then it will be done.
The GPL official said the company has to conduct a design of the area before poles can be planted.
Senior Investigator, GPL, David Kaladin, who was part of the exercise said even though the power connections were being removed, those residents with legitimate services were invited to visit the GPL Office. Kaladin also noted that each meter box removed has a number, and these will be used to identify the particular contractor who did the installation of these services.

(GINA)