Sheriff Street establishment caught stealing electricity

Jan 10, 2012 News

Despite major monitoring efforts and an ongoing surveillance programme, an increase

The business that was disconnected for electricity theft yesterday

in electricity theft in the commercial sector has been persistent as another major business was caught stealing electricity yesterday.
According to Guyana Power and Light Inc. (GPL) officials, the business which was busted for the second time for stealing electricity was “Subs and Salads” on Sheriff Street.
Some of the businesses in the commercial sector that are guilty of electricity theft include establishments that construct furniture, wood processing companies, ice companies, hotels, and fish processing companies.
GPL officials said that they have been monitoring various businesses across the country and are disgusted at the persistence of major businesses with electricity theft.
It was revealed that when GPL operatives visited “Subs and Salads” they found two meters; one was for residential purposes but was being used for a business, and the other was illegitimate and was not recorded in the GPL system.
“It was a stolen meter; it was not recorded in our system…This customer was caught early last year with an unmetered supply. This is the second time; one of the legitimate meters recorded that he has been using 300 Amp for one phase.”
It was disclosed that the businessman currently owes $9M to GPL for electricity that was supplied through the illegitimate system.
GPL officials further noted that it is a policy for the electricity company to demand that businesses not only clear the amount owed to GPL, but the business must also pay six months deposit in order to have the service returned.
Alluding to the fact that more stringent ‘penalties are in place to deal with defaulters since the implementation of the Electricity Sector Reform (Amendment) Bill 2010, GPL officials said the situation is growing at an alarming rate and persons and companies caught stealing electricity and facing conviction more than three times can be denied permanent service.
Underscoring that these companies also charge for their services, it was disclosed that GPL installs I-Tron meters for business entities but despite this, they use elaborate methods to steal electricity. However, there has been some degree of success, while law enforcement must also play their part in curbing the theft of electricity.
Noting that the situation is serious countrywide, it was further disclosed that some of the guilty parties seem to have what he termed “an endless supply of wire and ideas”.
However, the company stressed that it was taking a number of steps to curb the theft of electricity. One measure is the use of a special type of meter – the Itron meter – that is being used for large consumers in a secure environment. For small customers, the company is offering the prepaid meter, which discourages consumers from accessing it with the intention of tampering.
The electricity company noted that it will continue to work towards reducing both technical and commercial losses as it operates in an environment of high fuel prices.
Records revealed that 22 percent of the company’s losses are non-technical in nature and are largely as a result of electricity theft, faulty meters and deficiencies in the billing system, while electricity theft costs GPL $2B annually.