Tackling blackout woes

Nov 14, 2008 Features / Columnists

The electricity situation is not what it should be despite the expenditures by the government and the government has had cause to criticize the management of the electricity company. The public is faced with a spate of blackouts and power interruptions at crucial times.
Many people are complaining that their children are unable to do their homework in the evenings although for the greater part there is electricity. Yet the government is unhappy because it would seem that every year at this time there is some problem.
Last year, the government had to take decisive action in the face of a black Christmas.
President Bharrat Jagdeo was out of the country when the power company announced that it was experiencing a severe shortfall in generation. There seemed to be a problem with some of the generators and an investigation revealed that these problems could have been avoided had the management performed as it should.
There were reports that the quality of fuel used in some of the generators contributed to the problems. These investigations also revealed that one of the persons entrusted with supplying power to the electricity company had actually caused unnecessary spending by importing far more expensive fuel than was needed.
The threat of a dark Christmas was averted because the government managed to import portable generators in the nick of time. These were installed and the public got more than adequate supplies.
This year, in anticipation of increased load, the power company embarked on a maintenance programme that has lasted longer than usual. Systems that should have been taken out still remain and the managers of the power company explain that orders placed for replacements are taking an inordinately long time because the suppliers only produce them on order.
According to the managers, it could be two years before an order is fulfilled. The critics would query the reason for the apparently late orders without thinking that equipment breakdowns are often sudden and unexpected.
But there is another problem and this has to do with line losses. Many people opt to steal electricity and some of them die trying. Theft at this level is often beyond the control of the government and the power company although the latter must make constant sweeps of areas known to be a haven for electricity theft.
Quite often these raids uncover massive theft and the illegal connections are removed, only to be reinstalled or reintroduced shortly after the disconnection crews leave. One would expect that the critics would have been ready to take the people who fashion illegal connections to task. Instead they remain silent, waiting to pounce on the government for anything untoward that may occur in this unusual but dangerous situation. They support stealing on the grounds that the cost of living is high and people cannot afford to pay for electricity. The political parties even blame VAT for electricity theft, which has been going on before VAT was introduced.
But in any case, such blame is something unheard of in any part of the world because in every country people must pay for utilities. There has not been any known protest in even rich countries when electricity rates climb. People there know that they have to pay and they therefore adopt conservation measures.
Consumer bodies, instead of fighting the government, work with the people to manage their consumption. They all know that the absence of the utility poses a threat to the very life of the consumer.
Consumer bodies working with the government would be the ideal situation in Guyana because many people waste scarce and expensive resources. Yet for all this waste the government has in place measures to help the aged and the less fortunate access the various utilities. Subsidies are provided and this is something that is not done in many countries.
The electricity situation is going to be stabilized and the people would see an end to this spate of blackouts. At the same time the power company is going to have some money at its disposal because of the lower oil costs on the world market. However, the government is forced to keep an eye on the management because whenever anything goes wrong, the critics are quick to blame the government.
The government also noticed that the minibus operators are saying that the electricity company should lower its rates in the face of the drop in oil prices. The electricity company never raised its rates in face of the mounting oil prices therefore the question of lowering rates is really a non-issue.

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Tackling blackout woes

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