GPL targets illegal connections in Turkeyen

The Guyana Power and Light (GPL) in its continued loss reduction efforts, successfully disconnected and removed illegal connections from the company’s network at Pattensen, Turkeyen on the East Coast Demerara (ECD).
According to the company, the initiative forms part of its continued commitment to minimising losses, safeguarding the integrity of the electricity network, and improving service reliability for our metered customers.

GPL is working to strengthen its internal legal architecture in order to tackle electricity theft, which the agency noted is contributing significantly to energy and financial losses.
GPL is currently working in collaboration with the Housing and Water Ministry, the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CHPA), and the Guyana Police Force (GPF) to prosecute persons benefitting from illegal electricity connection. This includes persons plying their trade at street corners, the sideline of main access roads, and on Government reserves. Despite these efforts, legal convictions in these cases are few, and GPL is expending a significant amount of revenue to pursue prosecution.
In an effort to increase the number of persons being convicted for the illegal act of electricity theft, the agency is expecting to invest heavily in its internal legal capability to play an integral role in deterring citizens from reconnecting illegal electricity connections when those are removed by GPL engineers.

Electricity Sector Reform Act
The Electricity Sector Reform Act provides for the regular, efficient, coordinated and economical supply of electricity, and for matters incidental thereto or connected therewith. Under this Act, a person who generates, stores, transmits, transforms, distributes, furnishes, sells, resells, or otherwise supplies electricity to any other person, premises or area shall be guilty of an offence, and shall be liable, upon summary conviction, to a fine of $1 million and imprisonment for six months. The Act further stipulates that if the offence for which a guilty person has been convicted continues after conviction, that guilty person shall be guilty of a further offence, and would become liable to a fine of $50,000 for every day on which the offence is continued. According to the Electricity Reform Act, any person who lays down any electric line or apparatus, or constructs any electrical installation outside the area or premises in or on which it is authorised to supply electricity by a licence or an exemption granted pursuant to this Act shall be guilty of an offence, and shall be liable, upon summary conviction, to a fine of $500,000. And if the offence of which he/she is convicted is continued after conviction, he/she shall be guilty of a further offence and become liable to a fine of $30,000 for every day on which the offence is continued.
GPL has said the theft of electricity continues to cost it millions of dollars every year. Thousands of people, mostly in depressed communities and squatting areas, climb utility poles and attach wires to GPL’s network, while many of them tamper with meters to decrease their actual energy consumption. The company’s Public Relations Department has also publicised the issue to educate customers about the importance of legal connections and the dangers of illegal ones.