Govt reinstates pensioners’ electricity subsidy removed by APNU/AFC

The Guyana Government on Friday announced that it will reintroduce an annual electricity subsidy of $30,000 for pensioners from this month.
This move, the government stated is in keeping with its- commitment to improve the disposable income of senior citizens and was catered for in the 2024 Budgetary allocation under the Human Services and Social Security Ministry.
As such, once the electricity account is registered in the pensioner’s name, they will be entitled to the subsidy.
“For pensioners with Postpaid accounts, the subsidy of $30,000 will be directly credited to the pensioner’s account. For pensioners with Prepaid accounts, the subsidy of $30,000 will be placed in the pensioner’s account electronic wallet feature within GPL’s Prepaid system,” the Government stated.
In addition, this subsidy can then be converted into an Electricity Token by visiting any of Guyana Power and Light’s commercial offices and customer service centres.
The initial application of this subsidy will commence in August 2024 for both post and prepaid accounts.
The government is urging eligible pensioners who do not see the subsidy in their accounts by this month’s end to visit their nearest GPL office with their ID card to register for same.
The electricity subsidy to assist pensioners in paying electricity bills to the Guyana Power and Light Company (GPL) was first implemented in September 2013 and saw more than 8,000 pensioners benefitting from $20,000 in subsidy.
However, upon taking office in 2015, the then APNU-AFC regime removed safety net subsidies that pensioners enjoyed such as electricity and water subsidies, and compounded the situation by introducing VAT on water and electricity bills.