GPL’s Vreed-en-Hoop station fire results in extensive power outages

– residents fearful of criminal elements during blackouts

Several businesses and residents who reside in several communities on the West Bank of Demerara (WBD) have expressed much frustration at disruptions to their electricity service. For at least 24 hours on Monday into Tuesday evening, several villages along the West Bank were out of power, which resulted in losses to a host of refrigerated goods. The Guyana Power and Light (GPL), in a release, blamed the most recent disruption on a fire to one of its cables at the Vreed-en-Hoop power station which “caught fire triggering a shutdown of the Demerara/Berbice Interconnected System”. This fire occurred at 18:45h on Monday evening.
However, just hours prior, another power outage was recorded in several lower West Bank villages including Sisters, Good Intent, and Wales where there was no electricity reportedly between 03:00h Monday and just before 12:00h later that day. Nevertheless, the power company observed that restoration efforts for Monday evening’s fire commenced at 18:55h and power was restored by 20:00h in a few upper WBD villages. However, villages from Versailles all the way to Vriesland were without power. “Our engineers are working assiduously to repair the cable and restore power by 19:00h. GPL regrets the inconvenience caused,” is what GPL disclosed late Tuesday.
The La Parfaite Harmonie housing scheme – one of the nation’s largest residential areas – has also been affected. A concerned resident informed this publication that a similar blackout was registered last week. The female inhabitant stated that the situation is especially frustrating, as mobile phones cannot be charged and that refrigerated meats had started to spoil.
This publication was told that when there is electricity, there is often load shedding in the Parfaite area which often affects electrical equipment. With regard to the current power cut, residents in the housing scheme are said to be “locking up tight” in fear of possible attacks by criminal elements that lurk in the neighbourhood.
Some of the other affected communities include Patentia, Stanleytown, Nismes, Bagotville, La Grange and Schoonord. Despite these frequent power outages and undesirable service, GPL managed to improve its revenue collection by raking in $17 billion in the first half of 2017, which was an increase from $14.7 billion for the same period in 2016. According to the 2017 mid-year report released by Government, the increase in revenue is as a result of more timely payments.