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GPL requires consumer assistance to continue stable electricity supply

May 23, 2008 News

The provision of a stable supply of electricity is now reliant on the support of consumers since, according to a release from the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) Incorporated, “consumers will have to assist us in this period of record high prices.”

The GPL release noted that the price of fuel on the international market has continued to rise at an alarming rate and has managed to reach a shocking US$135 per barrel.

“At the beginning of the year crude surpassed the psychological barrier of US$100 per barrel. By the end of the first quarter the price for crude oil was in the vicinity if US$117 per barrel. On May 9, 2008 the oil price exceeded US$125 per barrel for the first time…By May 21 the oil price had already exceeded US$130 per barrel…”

According to the release, GPL uses approximately 3,000 barrels of heavy fuel oil and diesel to generate electricity daily. The entity has to buy its fuel on the international market at the price determined by that market.

The release added that with the price of fuel steadily increasing almost daily, it means that the company has to expend an ever increasing amount of its financial resources.

“At present, the company had budgeted US$85M for fuel alone in 2008. No one could have foreseen fuel prices soaring past US$130 per barrel.”

As a result, GPL is under severe pressure to maintain its tariffs with the daily increase in fuel prices. But while the company is exploring every avenue to reduce costs, improve efficiency and manage the situation, the release stated, the price of fuel has reached levels that demand consumers to do more to help the entity survive the crisis.

And though there has been a notable reduction in the electricity demand this year, the release asserted that the situation is approaching crisis proportions and “we are pleading with all our customers to join the conservation effort. Everything that you do to reduce your electricity demand would help and we are asking you to do something.”

Currently, GPL has approximately 120,000 domestic customers and, according to the release, if each household was to switch off one 10-watt bulb during the peak period the entity will not need to generate about 1.4 megawatts of power.

The release added that energy conservation must be made an absolute priority in each home and office.
“When you leave on lights and appliances that are not in use, you are contributing to the wasting of fuel; fuel that is already expensive to acquire,” the release cautioned.

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