Improved power supply attributed to active debt servicing, equipment maintenance
Move on to improve staff/customer relations
Guyana Chronicle
September 21, 2003
(GINA) - THE notable improvement in power supply to consumers since the withdrawal of AC Power from the Guyana Power and Light Company, GPL, has been attributed to the company’s active debt servicing and equipment maintenance programme that the new management undertook upon its assumption to office last May.
During a live discussion on GTV 11 last week, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the GPL, Mr. Ronald Ali, explained that the former GPL management walked away leaving a debt of $1B.
Ali said this sum was accrued due to the lack of payment for fuel and fuel shipments to Guyana, coupled with the deferral of equipment servicing.
To date, GPL has managed to reduce its indebtedness by $250M, and an additional $400M will be paid out to creditors by this month-end, said Ali.
The GPL Board Chairman said power outages have been substantially reduced with the company now reaching 96 per cent of its peak demand. However, he claimed that 67 per cent of GPL’s customers make habitual late payments.
Chief Executive Officer of GPL, Mr. Robin Singh, who also participated on the live programme, said GPL is currently operating strictly on a cash-inflow basis. He pointed out that the power company receives no subsidy from Government, but now depends heavily on consumer payments to manage its daily operations.
In addition to debt servicing, and in order to redress power supply problems caused through faulty transmission and distribution systems, GPL has expended some $100M towards the servicing and maintenance of equipment.
According to the GPL boss, the company has embarked on a massive revenue collection campaign aimed at maximising its revenue base. He emphasised the importance of timely payments by consumers to avoid disconnections.
On the issue of GPL’s estimation of consumption patterns, Chief Commercial Officer of the GPL, Mr. Sam Zimbe assured that on average, 15 per cent of GPL’s customers are billed on estimated readings.
Zimbe pointed out that the reason for such recourse by GPL is due largely to meter readers’ inaccessibility to premises.
However, he said consumers with queries with regard to estimated readings should visit the commercial department of GPL or call him on telephone number 225-4900. Others with disconnection queries may call the GPL disconnection hotline telephone 226-7408.
One of the major problems that faced the previous GPL managers and which they failed to conquer, was commercial loss experienced mainly through consumers’ theft of electricity. Since the heightened revenue collection drive by GPL, the company has disconnected several consumers who were in arrears for periods ranging from one month to six months.
Despite this effort by the company though, there are still loopholes in the system. Zimbe admitted that there are instances when the company took disciplinary action against members of its disconnection crew who were found guilty of colluding with consumers who handed over money so as not to be disconnected.
He affirmed that the Power Company has strict policies against such acts, and will continue to take necessary corrective action to curb illegal practices.
The absence of a proper stock inventory system under the previous GPL management has also been identified as the cause for the shortage of new meters for consumers. Towards redressing this situation, GPL plans to process about 1 000 new meter applications for this month.
During the call-in segment of the programme, public concerns raised ranged from irregular billing practices to discourteous customer relations meted out by GPL staff.
Zimbe said GPL has trained 1 000 staff members who interact with the public, but he assured that the company will continue to monitor the situation closely.
Chief Operations Officer of GPL, Mr. Bharat Dindyal, who was also another panellist on last evening’s programme, said the company is moving to address problems at the Berbice exchange.
Dindyal disclosed that discussions are being pursued with Independent Power Producers for the supply of 5MW of electricity for the Canefield Power Station.
He said GPL plans to embark on a maintenance programme for Berbice within a few weeks.
The live programme was an initiative of the Government Information Agency aimed at addressing the concerns of consumers with respect to the utilities sector.
