Guyana’s Prime Minister Samuel Hinds wants any Guyanese, who feels that the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) is burdening them to begin generating their own electricity since they have a right to do so as is provided in the laws of Guyana. That is according to the Government Information Agency.

The Prime Minister appeared on a government programme on the state-owned National Communications Network and sought to rubbish the concerns of the Opposition about the efficiency of the Guyana Power and Light Company and the costs consumers have to pay for their power supply.

APNU Member of Parliament Joseph Harmon has been quoted in the Kaieteur News as saying that GPL needs to seek ways to reduce its tariff and “get off the backs of Guyanese”.

In response to that statement, Prime Minister Hinds said “that kind of talk is the basis for many of our Guyanese citizens feeling that they have a right to steal electricity.  From the very high to the low Guyanese have been responding to those kinds of talks and it shouldn’t be.”

According to the Government Information Agency, Prime Minister Hinds pointed out that the government has over the years been working to shift from diesel to fuel oil which brings down the generation cost to about 20 cents. “I don’t think you can get more than that.  When we wrote the Electrification Sector Act, we particularly put in there that everyone has the right  to self generate, and you find that when the people are put to the test they can’t do very much better than the rate that they are receiving,” he pointed out.

“Mr. Harmon should be the last person to be talking about our electricity prices… if we had gone to Amaila (hydropower project), we would be having generation cost which will be averaging in the order of 10 cents per kilowatt per hour rather than 22 cents per kilowatt per hour, and we would have been able to halve our generation cost. The other thing he should be doing is to call on the people to end the theft of electricity,” the Prime Minister stated.

But GPL has been receiving hefty subsidies in the national budget while its rates remain high. Added to the costs, consumers continue to complain bitterly about the constant power outages that have been plaguing areas across the country despite the billions poured into the company to ensure its modernisation.

Filed: 13th December, 2014

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