The new agreement between the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) and the Turkish company, Karpowership, for the continued rental of two power ships, has been completed and will see the Guyana paying more to have the first power ships remain in the country for the next two years.

President Irfaan Ali has confirmed that a new two-year agreement between GPL and Karpowership has been hammered out. According to the President, the fee for the 36-megawatt power ship which is docked in the Berbice River, has been adjusted upward to match the existing fee of the second power ship.

“It is completed at the same rate of the existing ship…. The first ship we got, we were able to negotiate at a specific rate; the second ship was at a different rate. I think the latest rate, which is the rate of second ship that is being used. Nothing above that rate,” the President told reporters.

The cost has been increased from US 7.06 cents per kilowatt hour to US 9.5 cents per kilowatt hour, which matches the existing rate being paid for the second power ship. The second ship, which is a 60MW craft is stationed in the Demerara River.

At the initial rates, Guyana was paying roughly US$235,000 per day or G$48.8 million to rent the two power ships to supply power to the national grid. That cost is expected to increase substantially under the new two-year agreement.

The company had demanded increased, standardized rates and had warned that it would disconnect the power ships from the national grid if the Government did not heed to its demand.

Last week, Minister of Public Utilities, Deodat Indar, assured that the Guyana Power and Light would have make the particulars of the new agreement public upon the conclusion of the negotiations. There has been no public release of the new agreement.

Back in 2024, the Government through GPL signed a multi-million dollar contract with Urbacon Concessions Investments, W.L.L (UCI), a subsidiary of UCC Holdings in Qatar, in collaboration with Karpowership International to rent the ship for two years.

Despite the intervention, the power supply problems in Guyana have been ongoing.

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