Latest update April 25th, 2024 12:59 AM
Aug 02, 2016 News
Christmas came early for some residents of West Demerara (Region Three) – well, at least the fairy light aspect – compliments of the Guyana Power and Light Inc. (GPL).
However, the flickering on and off of lights due to repeated power outages over a period of a few hours Sunday night was not welcomed by residents. In fact, many, fearing the worse, hurriedly try to protect electrically driven appliances and other devices by switching off the main switch in their respective homes.
This essentially was intended to prevent an undesirable surge of electricity from destroying electrical outlets with unwanted outcomes.
Many residents complained that the dawn of Emancipation has left them feeling still enslaved to a power company that seem incapable of maintaining a service it is mandated to provide.
Friday, residents also suffered through a spell of blackout without any fore warning too. This was similar to many days earlier. In fact, residents complained that this has become the norm – power outages occur without any advisory being issued.
An employee of the West Demerara Emergency response unit said that the incessant blackouts were the results of a system trip. The employee explained that since the emergency response team is not always aware of exactly where on the West Demerara the trip occurred, they would have to do several checks at different points.
The blackouts usually occur until the trip is found and normalize. This state of affairs the employee said is not unusual, as it happens from time to time and could affect a number of villages or individual villages.
Residents are however worried that something grave is happening within the power company.
But West Demerara alone has not been suffering from bouts of blackout. Residents of Eccles on the outskirts of the capital city have been sharing similar sentiments. Central Georgetown and other parts of the country have not been spared too.
On Sunday this publication reported that GPL is currently in a quandary, because a critical submarine cable that links the city with the West Demerara is still to be repaired. The system had reportedly collapsed two weeks earlier and GPL it is believed,, has ever since been seeking foreign assistance to make it operational again.
The Chinese-built cable is said to be crucial as it is part of the system that connects the Berbice and Demerara grid.
Based on Sunday’s report “It means now that the more than US$30M new power facility at Vreed-en-Hoop, West Demerara will be unable to lend its excess power to the other side of the river, a worry at this time when GPL is depending on those extras to ensure that there is no shortfall.”
Now this is an even greater quandary since the very side of the river outfitted with the new power facility has been plagued with an unusual amount of power outages.
Residents are moreover calling for full disclosure from the power company so that they can understand the reason for the constant blackouts. “We pay our bills and if we don’t, we will have to accept being disconnected but we can’t pay our bills and still worry whether we have electricity…that is simply wrong,” said one resident.
It is estimated that millions of dollars in excess power is lost from the generation by the Vreed-en-Hoop station because of the downed cable.
Guyana first learnt of a problem with the submarine cable on July 13, when GPL disclosed in a statement, that on the previous evening the Demerara Berbice Interconnected System experienced a shutdown as a result of a faulty connection or “Pot Head” that links the 69KV submarine cable to the overhead transmission lines at Kingston.
While power was restored, the link remained down. GPL said that “every effort” is being made to restore the submarine cable link between the Vreed-en-Hoop station.
Since then, there has been no other word from GPL on the repairs to the cable.
The submarine cable was part of a larger infrastructural work by GPL to improve its efficiency. It included also, the building of seven sub-stations and stringing of miles of new transmission lines with fiber optic across the coastlands.
The entire US$40M-plus project was handled by China National Machinery Import & Export Corporation (CMC), a Chinese company which is now planning to participate in a number of other projects.
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