Blackout woes continue during holiday season

– GPL says DBIS shutdown

Despite the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) declaring, less than two weeks ago, that it is fully prepared for any emergency during the holiday season, the Demerara-Berbice Interconnected System (DBIS) experienced a total shutdown on Saturday evening. That shutdown left the entire counties of Demerara and Berbice without power for nearly two hours.
In a post on his Facebook page about 30 minutes later, Minister within the Public Works Ministry, Deodat Indar, disclosed that the shutdown occurred at about 17:59h, and efforts were being made to incrementally restore power in affected areas. At that time, he had noted that some engines were restarted and Georgetown was repowered.
But while power was restored after approximately one hour, there was blackout a second time, about 20 mins after restoration. However, Saturday’s power outage comes on the heels of GPL officials saying at a press conference on December 8 that the power company would be generating sufficient power to satisfy the high demand during this season. Nevertheless, they had noted that disruptions to the Distribution and Transmission network could cause outages.
“Whether you get blackouts or not, it’s not going to be planned; it has to be an emergency,” Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GPL, Bharrat Dindyal, had said.
He noted, “In terms of outages, we don’t see an exposure on the generation side. Of course, network side we always have exposure. What we find happening around this time is that we got people out there driving, and they seem to be targeting the poles. So, we have a lot of those, and there is only so much we can do. We really have to ensure that we are ready to respond to those when they happen.”
In fact, vital to preparation for the holidays is GPL’s emergency response, which has been significantly boosted.
Additionally, the power company would beef up its customer-service facilities to include more options to contact GPL for assistance.
In addition to the company’s telephone numbers, customers can also make contact via WhatsApp messaging on cell #699-4882, as well as by utilising the company’s live chat feature on its website.
Persons who are experiencing power outage can also call in on 226-2600, and instead of dialling extension 1 to speak to an agent, they can instead dial extension 9 to get automated updates for the areas where there are outages.