Board of new State-owned power company installed

– expected to cut operational costs, improve efficiency

Eight of the nine members comprising the Board of Directors of the Power Producer and Distributors Inc (PPDI) were installed on Tuesday at the Public Infrastructure Ministry.

With this move, the company now has a board to provide oversight as it takes over operations of over a dozen engines for power supply to the Guyana Power and Light (GPL). The company is expected to reduce operational costs for electricity generation.

The Board comprises the Chairman, Mark Bender; Chief Executive Officer, Aaron Fraser; the Secretary, Ronald Burch-Smith and the Public Infrastructure Ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Geoffrey Vaughn. The other members are Attorney-at-Law Stephen Fraser, Verlyn Klass, Amanza Walton-Desir and Harryram Parmesar.

The vacancy for a ninth member is yet to be filled and according to Public Infrastructure Minister David Patterson, this vacancy has been left for someone who has to be nominated by the parliamentary Opposition.

PPDI is to replace Wärtsilä, a company from Finland, which, for two decades, has maintained over a dozen engines for GPL. The new Government had announced last year that it would not renew Wärtsilä’s contract. PPDI was only incorporated as a company in December of 2016.

Minister Patterson was, however, optimistic that working with PPDI would reduce operating costs, stating that there were projections of a 20 to 24 per cent reduction. According to Patterson, capacity was also a key consideration and he stressed that the company would continue to be fully manned by a Guyanese workforce.

He stated that the workers had, over the years, demonstrated increased competency, such as the completion of challenging maintenance activities and major overhauls in significant less time than Wärtsilä.

“Additionally, the retention of generated profits will facilitate the investment in people and new equipment as we prepare for future opportunities,” Minister Patterson said.

According to PPDI’s CEO, there will be a significant difference in the rate. He said that other things such as improving operational efficiency and labour would also play a part in the reduced price structure for PPDI.

“Going forward, Wärtsilä (was) proposing a rate of US$20.1 per megawatt of power, while PPDI will have a rate of US$16 per megawatt. So, that’s $3.70 saving per megawatt and if you multiply that by production of 620,000 megawatts per year, you have savings in the vicinity of US$2 million per year,” Fraser explained.

Meanwhile, Junior Public Infrastructure Minister Annette Ferguson noted the wealth of experience and knowledge of the Board members. She urged them to use these qualities to complement the Government’s vision of a green economy.

“With your experience and ideas, I hope you will be able to enhance and meet the vision of the greening of Guyana by 2025,” she said.

In response, Board Chairman Bender said that satisfactory electricity supply was a key component of development. He pledged his commitment and dedication to his duty, while employing best practices.

The newly-installed Board is expected to meet shortly to discuss significant plans and chart a course for PPDI.

There has been a spate of power outages, which were expected to be rectified when GPL operated on its submarine cable which connects the Vreed-en-Hoop power station with its Kingston facility. The cable was damaged last year, disrupting an already unstable power supply.

For the year 2017, there were over 100 complaints to the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) about utility companies, including GPL.

The cost to GPL to supply fuel for the generators is estimated to be millions of US dollars. GPL has also had to grapple with power being lost to theft and technical problems with its sub-stations and hardware.