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Aug 15, 2014 News
Persons most recently becoming old age pensioners and desirous of accessing Government’s subsidy for electricity supply from Guyana Power and Light Incorporated (GPL) would most likely begin benefitting from this facility in October.
This was disclosed by Bharat Dindyal, Chief Executive Officer of GPL, during an interview with this publication, yesterday, in response to a query in this regard.
In 2013, Government introduced an annual electricity subsidy of $20,000 for old age pensioners and this amount increased by $10,000 in the 2014 National Budget. Currently, over 5,000 individuals are benefiting from the subsidy. This list has to be updated to include new old age pensioners.
Being a pensioner does not automatically qualify an individual to benefit from this programme. To access the subsidy, one has to go through a process of registering with the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security which compiles and validates a list that is submitted to GPL and the Ministry of Finance.
Dindyal noted that a person could only benefit once he or she is a customer of GPL. There are instances where persons apply for a change in ownership of the meter to benefit from the programme. This is accepted in cases where a person’s spouse might have passed away. In addition, the person registering should be the owner of the property or the renter.
The power company wants to be meticulous with the list, comprising a large number of new beneficiaries, before submitting the document to the Ministry of Finance.
Dindyal is aware that pensioners have been complaining about the situation, but the programme needs to be implemented smoothly across Regions Two, Three, Four, Five, Six and Seven, that access power from GPL.
However, in the interim, old age pensioners are frustrated by the sloth of GPL in initiating the programme. Many of them are dependent on a meagre pension and allowances, if any at all, from their children. They believe GPL should not wait on a large number of pensioners to be on the list before submitting it to the Ministry of Finance, since pensioners are finding it difficult to meet their monthly expenses.
According to one male pensioner, in this year’s budget Government promised the subsidy, and even though he became eligible in July 2013 and submitted claims to GPL’s Anna Regina Branch since January 2014, he has not yet benefited.
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