Consumers made more complaints against GPL than any other entity

May 05, 2014 News

– Public Utility Commission

The Public Utility Commission (PUC) has received most complaints about the Guyana Power and Light Inc (GPL) than any other entity for the year.

Justice Prem Persaud

From January 2014 to this month, of the 197 complaints the PUC has received, 126 were against the power company.
This was revealed by Justice Prem Persaud, Chairman of the Public Utility Commission, during a recent interview with this publication. The complaints against the power company range from billing, tampering, and lengthy wait for new service.
It was noted that during that same period, 25 complaints were received against Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) and 45 were lodged against Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T). One matter was raised against Digicel but that has been resolved.
According to Justice Persaud, most complaints lodged by consumers are against the nationally owned utility companies. Issues relating to the telephone companies are usually resolved quickly and are mostly owing to technical issues.
He suggested that the large consumer base of GPL and GWI could be the main reason for complaints reaching the PUC against the companies.
“It seems the volume of consumers they have contributed to the complaints…GPL has some like 170,000 consumers and GWI has similar amount…when complaints come in they have to deploy the people and do site visits… we do not have much problems with the telephone companies…As soon as a report is made and they are informed within 24 hours they are resolved.”
Justice Persaud, however, conceded that the telephone companies also have a large consumer base with some persons owning more than one phone. He admitted that consumers of the telephone companies are treated differently because they operate in a private industry.
He related that most of the frustration encountered by consumers of the state-owned utility companies could be eliminated if staff members enhance their interpersonal skills.
“Part of our function is to deal with the matter after you would have made complaints to the utility companies…So we tell the consumer go to them, file your complaint and if you are not satisfied come to us and we would deal with the matter.
“Nine out of 10 times we are told by these people when they go to raise issues concerning bills, the persons at the counters say to pay first and then we would talk to you. They go to complain about the bill but they say no, no you have to pay up. The attitude and mentality of the people has to change. That officer forgets that he too is a consumer,” he said.
According to the Chairman, the PUC is trying to get the companies and staff to understand that they need to deal with problems affecting consumers in a timely manner. “We understand the stress consumers go through,” he added.
He noted that the PUC is engaging the companies about interpersonal skills training. In addition, the PUC facilitates discourses between the aggrieved consumer and the utility companies.
Justice Persaud explained that while the PUC has to regulate the utility companies to ensure good service to the public they also need to look into the interests of the companies.
“In as much as people feel we are consumer biased, in other words we go towards the consumers’ interests, at the same time we have to ensure the survival of the utility company. Because if we put undue pressure on the companies and they close shop everybody will suffer. They are entitled to make a reasonable return because they have a lot of people employed, etc,” he said.
He emphasized that orders made by the PUC are binding and are in accordance with the amended Public Utility Commission Act of 2010. The Act sets out the guidelines under which the Commission operates and consumers could benefit.
Because of this Act, several consumers of GPL were rewarded credits totaling over $4M last year. Meanwhile, GT&T had to repay over $90,000 to its customers and GWI paid in excess of $75,000.
Although PUC is supposed to give impartial orders, it is taken to Court on numerous occasions by the utility companies.
“Invariably the companies take us to court…Almost regularly we are in court…When we make an order against them (utility companies) and they are not satisfied they take us to court…We don’t take them to court we make our own orders here,” he said.

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