GPL., InterEnergy negotiations near completion – President Ali

Sep 19, 2025 News

---

Kaieteur News – Negotiations between the Guyana Power and Light Incorporated (GPL) and Dominican Republic company InterEnergy Group is nearing completion, President Irfaan Ali announced on Tuesday. The head-of-state said that the companies are in their final stages of completing a two-year deal said to be valued at US$15M.

At his first media conference, since re-election to office, President Ali said the plan for investment in the transmission and distribution network across the Linden-Soesdyke Highway should soon materialise. This will see the rollout of smart equipment and the installation of the smart meters for all customers.

There will also be smart switches, automated re-closers, and fault indicators all of which will reduce leakages in the system and the enhancement and reliability of the system itself.

President Ali said that based on what some consultants are being paid, the supervision cost for the project is estimated to be over US$40M.

“They’re (GPL) trying to complete negotiations with InterEnergy for a two-year program that will only cost US$15M, that would help in the supervision of all of these projects, plus the modernisation of the management system and the total overhaul of the system itself to enhance efficiency and reliability,” he said.

Further, the president said that should negotiations bear fruit, GPL will save substantially. The parties are currently working towards “finalising the technical advisory support and supervision, helping in project management, oversight, contract management, the smart grid integration, capacity building, and reporting.”

President Ali reminded that there are enormous investments that need to be made in the smart grid transformation and these kinds of investments often time require technical expertise and support.

“Now GPL has outlined a number of major projects that we must invest in, in building out a full-scale smart grid, which includes the transmission and distribution expansion, the construction of approximately 155 kilometers of double circuit transmission lines, and 343 kilometers of primary distribution lines across Region 3, 4, 5, and 6,” President Ali said.

That project is expected to cost in excess of $400M as it entails the building of substations and the upgrading of the ones that exist in the capital city, Garden of Eden, Kingston, Onverwagt, Edinburg, Good Hope and Columbia. This will be coupled with smart distribution equipment, cost of over $300M.

There have been numerous articles published on the secrecy of discussions between GPL and InterEnergy and the proposed terms. On August 1, Kaieteur News reported that Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo defended the monthly cost of US$650,000 being charged by a Dominican Republic Company -InterEnergy Group (IEG) to provide management supervision for the beleaguered Guyana Power and Light Inc.

Jagdeo said the figure is a small amount and explained that the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed with the company since early last year and it was for the supervision of GPL’s needs.

“You want when you build something, a tower, like those towers …you want to build them to international standards. You can’t get the GPL staff to supervise it. They don’t have time, they were busy trying to keep the power on and fixing the old system, you know, some of the transformers that are going out. So, you have to get a firm to supervise and often a firm to supervise project they come between 5% of the contract price to 5 to 8% of the contract price,” the VP explained.

He went on to say that the sum is significantly lower and that there are several reasons for this. The company is well known and has great technical abilities and looking at this supervision cost compared to the scope of the civil work contract it is small.

“…it was not secretly done; you can’t secretly hire somebody as Mahipaul has been pushing. Mahipaul has been trying hard to talk, they are trying to resurrect this whole thing about corruption. Imagine that coming from Mahipaul,” he stressed.

Jagdeo then clarified that no agreement has been signed as negotiations are still ongoing. He disclosed, “There is a proposal that went to cabinet that spoke of this but we now need to see that they’re actually delivering on what is in the proposal. When a company makes an offer, you get to look at it, compare it with others, but then you have to discuss and concretise in clear legal language what this is, and that negotiation is still ongoing, and I’m not even sure it will be concluded before the elections.”

The VP assured the media that when the agreement is signed it will be made public.

---

• Electricity, GPL, Guyana Power and Light, INTER Enegery

---