GPL blames COVID-19 for blackout woes

May 05, 2022 News

---

– but PUC record shows company performance woeful before pandemic

Kaieteur News – While the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) has laid blame on the COVID-19 pandemic for its failure to stay below the targeted number of power outages for last year, information recorded in the annual reports of the public utility commission (PUC) tells a different story. In fact, the PUC record of the company annual performance shows that GPL has consistently been missing its ‘black out’ target for years.

A review of the PUC ‘s information over a five year period revealed that GPL has performed poorly when it came to ensuring that consumers did not experience black outs. According to the report, in 2016 while the target was 75 interruptions on average per customer, which meant that GPL’s customers were not supposed to expect more than 75 outages per consumer that year, the number of outages per customer stood at 119. In 2017, there was a similar occurrence with the target at 75 and GPL power interruptions climbing to 129 outages.
In 2018, GPL placed the bar a little lower setting the target at 80 interruptions for that period; it exceeded it with 86.9 per customer. In 2019, the 80 interruptions target figure climbed to 113 outages per customer. And in 2020, GPL’s target for power outage was 80 interruptions on average per customer that year, but the record indicated the company again had more black out that it projected. For that period again, the electricity company pointed to difficulty in maintaining its systems due to the challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
GPL recorded 103 power outages last year and blamed the pandemic for slowdown in maintenance. The figure exceeded its 90 targeted outages. This was contained in an order released by the PUC on Tuesday. The document explained “In 2021, the company had exceeded the target of 90 power outages when compared to the 99 outages for the year 2020. The company proffered that the COVID-19 pandemic hampered its usual schedule of maintenance in 2020 and the increase in planned maintenance activities was the direct result of that increase to 103 outages for the year, 2021.”
In light of the circumstances, PUC, inter alia promised it will continue to monitor GPL’s performance to ensure the proper rollout and implementation of its projected measures which should benefit consumers and improve the overall electricity supply.
The document was released some hours after to former Minister of Public Infrastructure and current Shadow Minister of Public Works, David Patterson spoke to Kaieteur News exclusively about some of the difficulties in incurred managing the company. His comments followed a recent spate of ‘blackouts’ across various parts of the coastland.
The former minister pointed to several issues which he said was affecting the adequate delivery of the services of GPL to consumers. Patterson also recommended a systems overhaul as part of the solution to ending the consistent black outs. He explained that while he was in government, GPL’s systems were subject to a complete analysis by the new management team that was in place to deal with the daily operations. According to the former Minister, it was then discovered that there were at least 17 ways in which there could be a major power outage—- the most common issue was, more safeguard was needed.
“This is exactly what is happening now – whereby something as simple as a falling tree branch or pole can bring down the entire [system]… We immediately started a programme to eliminate as many of these issues as possible – that way, the entire system stop failing on a single event – they add much more redundancy and protection to the main lines,” Patterson said.
He noted further that, “There was a major issue with things like the submarine cable linking Vreed-en-Hoop and Kingston, when that was damaged, the entire system collapsed…” As such, Patterson said that the management of GPL added another submarine cable linking Vreed-en-Hoop via Princes Street, thus the protection network was upgraded. Additionally, new generating sets and sub-stations were introduced into the system to reduce the shortage of power.
He said, “It was found by 2015 that despite Wartsila producing excellent engines, their maintenance programme was lacking and substandard, this was changed which resulted in the new sets performing at 98 percent efficiency – this was all reversed in August 2020. All the senior managers of PPDI [Power Producer Distributers Incorporated] were fired or contracts not renewed because the former government claimed that they were earning super salaries but they were all Guyanese; some had been with Wartsila since they first came to Guyana, and despite that fact, the company was saving GPL more than 20 percent of what they were paying in 2015.”
Patterson said the board commenced better maintenance of the power systems. He said too, that “The Board started procuring spare parts directly from the best manufacturers because what was discovered was that before 2015, GPL was being supplied with substandard replacement parts by a small group of suppliers who were buying cheap inferior parts which were being damaged easily; it was a big racket. We put a stop to that practice and began purchasing in bulk from the best manufacturers worldwide which is cheaper and long lasting in the long run.”
He explained further that with GPL’s increased capacity of the local Transmission and Distribution (T&D) maintenance teams, coupled with the improved spares, they had a rigid maintenance schedule for all the high voltage transmission lines.
“The end result was the total system failure, as is happening now, was reduced drastically.”
According to Patterson, with the constant outages, the lack of regular maintenance to the T&D system is showing once more. “This practice has ceased under the new government …they have now awarded tenders for maintenance to some T&T companies,” he added. Kaieteur News Publisher Glenn Lall also slammed the government of its haphazard management of the power generation systems. Speaking on his Friday night radio programme, ‘The Glenn Lall Show’, Lall noted that Guyanese are living in blackouts on a daily basis. He stressed that one of the most important things on earth today, other than food and clean drinking water, is electricity.
“Without electricity, this world will go way, way back in time, moving at a snail’s pace. Electricity is what got this world spinning, electricity makes, gives and does everything. One billion people on earth do not have access to it and two billion is living with limited access to it. Electricity is almost like breathing, when it stops, then everything stops, is like you living in a coma, a constant state of midnight, without even a candle, yet 75 percent of Guyanese, three out of four, are living with blackouts daily…” he said.

---

---