Planned maintenance work by the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) Inc, will today result in several communities in Georgetown, on the East Bank and East Coast of Demerara being without power for at least nine hours.
According to GPL, residents from Buzz-Bee Dam in Craig to Providence, East Bank Demerara, will experience a disruption of electricity from 08:00h to 17:00h.
Other affected areas in Georgetown are A to E Fields, Sophia, Greater Georgetown; North Sophia to Success, East Coast Demerara; and in thew city – North and South Ruimveldt; Festival City; Shirley Field-Ridley Square; Guyhoc Park and Gardens; Meadow Brook and Roxanne Burnham Gardens; Tucville; Stevedore Housing Scheme; and Lamaha Park and Springs.
The utility company said the interruption to the power supply is because it would be conducting vital maintenance work at its Sophia substation.
Last week, the Demerara-Berbice Interconnected System (DBIS), which is operated by GPL, suffered from yet another shutdown, causing power outages in several communities.
The utility company announced shortly after that the system was indeed nonfunctional and promised that the situation will be rectified.
Not long after a burnt primary conductor on the L23 transmission line caused disruptions from Canefield to Auchiyne in Berbice. The interruption was necessary to connect the transmission line to the Skeldon generation facility.
Meanwhile, two weeks ago, the DBIS recorded a shutdown due to a fault in one of the circuit breakers at the Garden of Eden Power Plant. This caused a “lock out” of the busbar, facilitating the transfer of power from four generators. According to GPL, the “sudden” loss of 18 megawatts of generator capacity resulted in the shutdown.
GPL’s poor services have come under criticism many times, primarily by the general populace. Residents on the Essequibo Coast, Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), were faced with constant power outages in April, just one day after the commissioning of a $1.8 billion power plant at Anna Regina.
Just a few months ago, a loan was granted from the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) to the tune of US$20 million, to be provided to the Guyana Power Light (GPL) for upgrading the services.
The loan was expected to facilitate the rehabilitation of 153km of GPL’s medium voltage and low voltage network and 6941 smart meters, including the associated transformers, service lines and distribution boxes along with the rehabilitation and extension of two 69/13.8KV substations at Kingston and Vreed-en-Hoop.
