GPL records growing prepaid meter population

Mar 13, 2013 News

– as battle against electricity theft continues

The recent arrival of a quantity of prepaid meters is expected to further bolster the strides of the Guyana Power and Light Inc. (GPL) to reduce the impact of electricity theft.
At least this is the conviction of the power company’s Chief Executive Officer, Bharrat Dindyal, who during an interview with this publication revealed that “the incidence of theft among new customers has reduced because of the advent of prepaid meters.”
However, he noted that there yet remains a major electricity theft problem, hence, moves are consistently being made to introduce the prepaid metering technology to a wider cross-section of customers.
In fact, Dindyal disclosed that the initial challenge associated with this metering approach was the lack of acceptance on the part of customers.
“People were of the opinion that it was introduced primarily to deal with electricity theft alone, but we were always advocating the tremendous benefits for persons, in particular in the area of conservation…I think we have gone past the point of acceptance quite a bit now,” Dindyal stated.
He related that the technology has been gaining much acceptance, to the extent that “we have a serious problem now maintaining adequate inventory.” Moreover, 12,000 meters valued at US$1.2 million were recently acquired in light of the fact that the last three months of last year, GPL had exhausted its stock of prepaid meters.
According to Dindyal, at the moment the power company is gearing to install some 5,000 meters at the premises of customers who have already been promised the post-paid meter arrangement.
In an attempt to assess the impact of the prepaid meters on the instances of electricity theft, the GPL boss insisted that a comparative analysis has indicated that the practice has noticeably diminished.
“We have tried, especially where new services are concerned, to do analysis of what impact it has had on lost reduction, and we can only compare the stats for prepaid meters with stats for post paid meters that we have. We are seeing far less incidence of electricity theft using the prepaid meters and primarily we think it is because of the remoteness of the meter…it is not on the house,” Dindyal pointed out.
This strategic move, according to him, has helped in fostering a change of culture among customers as it relates to the use of electricity, whereby the inclination to steal is no longer there. He attributed this development to the fact that “they are not seeing the meter and because it is not at hand reach…because unmetered power is not easily accessible, since the meter is way up on the pole.”
The acceptance of prepaid meters by many has however not prevented some from tampering with the system in a deliberate bid to defraud the power company. Dindyal explained that “our efforts have not stopped people from engaging others to try to disable the meter by bypassing it and those things, but we are nevertheless seeing that such incidents are far less…. From that perspective I think it has had an impact.”
The action taken against customers found tampering with prepaid meters are similar to that meted out to those with post paid meters. According to Dindyal, such customers are subjected to a process where they have to pay an estimated bill because “we will now begin calculation of what they would have reasonably used and subject them to pay for it, and then of course, their account would go on a list for monitoring.”
At the moment GPL has on record approximately 20,000 prepaid customers of its 165,000 total customers. However, the prepaid customers are expected to soar, since Dindyal noted, not only are customers requesting this technology, but new customers are readily offered this metering option.
“The prepaid population will grow fast because small businesses and residential areas will automatically qualify for this metering technology,” he asserted.

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