While the Guyana Power and Light Company has indicated that it has the capacity to supply an adequate amount of electricity to meet the demands of the holiday season, it is offering no guarantees that there will not be power disruptions.

GPL’s Divisional Director of Operation, Bharat Harjohn explained to the media today that all systems are in place to ensure a smooth supply of electricity over the holidays. But he noted that technical issues and related accidents are possible.

“From a generation standpoint, we have enough reserved capacity…At Garden of Eden, we have a 46 megawatts plant there, which is a new plant, we have a 22 megawatt, which is the BP one and we have another 6 megawatts small plant but most of the 60% of the power has to find themselves to Georgetown for our control centre and then move up east, so if our transmission line fails us for some reason from bringing that power to the control centre or to Sophia for distribution we will have a challenge.” Mr. Harjohn said.

The power company continues to face widespread criticism over electricity supply problems being faced by customers. However, the company has been making millions of dollars in investments to improve its power generation capacity.

“There wouldn’t be any use of the emergency generation equipment this year, we have enough reserve capacity and this is including baseload capacity” Chief Executive Officer, Bharat Dindyal said.

Mr. Dindyal encouraged drivers to be extra careful on the country’s roadways at this time since the company has noticed an increase in road accidents that have resulted in damage to its power poles and other equipment.

“But in terms of outages, we don’t see exposure on the generation side, of course with the network we always have an issue…and what we find happening around this time, we have people who are driving and they seem to be targeting the poles. So, we have a lot of those and there is only so much we can do.”

As part of its emergency plan to address emergencies over the holiday season, the power company will be hiring temporary staff members to assist with its response to emergencies. (by Joseph Allen)

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