IDB US$65M project to aid in reducing GPL’s overall losses – Brassington

Feb 13, 2015 News

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–  ‘Smart Meters’ could see drop in electricity theft
A large sum of money from a US$65M Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Guyana Power and Light (GPL) modernisation project will go towards reducing the company’s technical and commercial losses. This was announced by the Chairman of the electricity company’s Board of Directors, Winston Brassington.

He was at the time speaking at the commissioning of GPL’s Vreed-en-Hoop Power Plant.
Brassington noted that under this massive project, there will be the installation of ‘Smart Meters’ which are projected to reduce GPL’s commercial losses to about eight percent, while also addressing technical losses which make up the current 28 percent failures.
Kaieteur News was told that currently, commercial areas in Georgetown are being used as pilot locations to test the meters for the specific purpose of monitoring electricity theft. The meters are different devices from the pre-paid meters which were relatively recently introduced to the public. With the smart meter, a certain type of software will analyze data and tell the company when electricity is being illegally utilised.
Brassington had explained that some 50,000 customers were added to GPL’s client list since 2005. In that year, he said, GPL was servicing about 127,000 customers, while at the end of last year they had 177,000 customers, a 40 percent jump in customer capacity.
These new customers increased the demand for power, giving a 65 percent increase in residential sales in the last 10 years. He said it is not just an increase in customer volume, but also an increase in consumption volume for the average household.
“If we look at the entire GPL system, not just residential customers, but all our commercial and industrial customers, the level of sales measured in kilowatt hours has increased by 70 percent over the last 10 years or an average annual increase of over six percent per annum in the last 10 years.”

It was emphasized, therefore, that the company’s drive is to reduce technical and commercial losses.  Brassington said that by the end of 2004, GPL’s technical and commercial losses were measured at 38.8 percent, while at the end of last year, it was down by 28.7 percent – a 24 percent reduction in a decade.
He went on to explain that a large part of the US$65M approved from the IDB last year will be used to help reduce technical and commercial losses. He said too that, “Under this project we will use an integrated approach to reduce losses, where we will be building entire distribution systems and at the same time installing what we call smart meters.”
These new generation meters are said to provide information on how much energy one uses and what is being spent. It allows for accurate billings against estimated charges.
“With this new integrated approach, engineers have calculated for an area completed we can reduce losses measured between the transformer measuring the power going into the area, and all of the power being sold, we can reduce the losses all the way down to eight percent.”
Brassington said that the company is also looking towards new technology that will allow GPL to monitor electricity consumption remotely, “both by area and customer; and smart meters offer the opportunity for us to use new computer technology to monitor consumption in real time.”
Minister with responsibility for electricity, Samuel Hinds, who also spoke at the commissioning, charged that undoubtedly, losses represent a significant challenge for the company. He emphasised the necessity for individuals to change their attitudes from the idea of taking electricity without paying for it.
Hinds said that the country can go to highly technological solutions which don’t come cheaply, or persons can change their perceptions of taking energy. He projected that the acquisition of smart meters can require US$100M or more, before making the comparison that despite Barbados using the same system as Guyana, their losses are already down to eight percent.
President Donald Ramotar was also of the view that attitudinal changes are necessary. He said that consumers do not realize that when they take power illegally they are also stymieing their own development from a national standpoint.
Despite its challenges, GPL has noted that it has been able to increase revenue. In 2005, the company’s total annual revenue was $16.4B, while last year, it was up to $31.3B, an almost 90 percent increase.
This US$64.573M programme will be used to enhance operational efficiency of GPL, improve corporate performance and fund infrastructure investments to reduce overall losses. Officials say that the new programme will rehabilitate approximately 830 kilometres of GPL’s distribution network by implementing an integral approach to tackle overall losses while strengthening GPL’s management and technical capabilities. This could also include the hiring of external experts to help make the company more efficient.

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