Opposition Member of Parliament, David Patterson has rejected recent statements by the President that the current power supply problems being experienced by the Guyana Power and Light company is partly to be blamed on the former APNU+AFC Government.

In a statement, Mr. Patterson, who served as Public Infrastructure Minister under the APNU+AFC Government, explained that although GPL was operating on a much smaller budget during the coalition’s time in office, it was in a better state. He said though there were challenges at GPL when his government left office, those challenges were on course to be resolved.

He said “the status of our power sector remains a matter of national concern, I would readily admit that by June 2020, there were several outstanding challenges still to be resolved, however the company was heading in the right direction with a very limited budget. With Guyana’s increased resources and the importance of this sector to our national development, one would have expected some increased momentum in fixing GPLs problems – in contrast, significant progress has all been reversed in recent years,” Patterson explained.

Patterson said although the government is aware of the challenges facing GPL, it has neglected the company and has.placed its attention on the Wales gas-to-energy project. 

He said comments by the government that the coalition had abandoned the power company are far from the truth, explaining that GPL under the coalition administration procured brand-new generating sets which increased the generating capacity of the company by 50%.

He said under the current Government, GPL procured 17 “third hand” containerized sets of unknown quality and procurement methodology, adding that five months after the purchase, only four of the sets are operational. He said the remaining sets appear to have various defects that have rendered them inoperable.

In September last year, the Power Company announced that there was an increase in peak demand, reaching 182 megawatts.

At that time the company encouraged power conservation and there was even a move to remove large companies from the national grid during peak hours. However, the blackouts have returned with various communities experiencing daily power outages for hours.

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