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Karpowership and Cheaper Electricity
Dear Editor,
Reference is made to news report on “Turkish power company holds Guyana at ransom for more $$$” (May 31). The whole affair smells fishy; the contract to Karpowership to supply electricity to Guyana has been mired in controversy.
There have been corruption allegations stemming primarily from emergency leasing contracts awarded to this foreign company by the state-owned Guyana Power and Light (GPL). Is it a case of kickbacks?
Expensive foreigners are preferred over Guyanese that produces reliable lower cost electricity. How was this company selected and by who? Critics have repeatedly called out a lack of transparency in the procurement, exorbitant operating costs, and issues with underperformance in producing electricity by Karpowership and other foreign companies. Government must rethink whether to continue using this company as well as other foreign companies. Electricity can be sourced cheaper from Guyanese companies working with foreign power producers.
As reported, government is paying US $600,000 a day to the Turkish company to sell Guyana electricity (less than 96 MW of power). The government paid Karpowership US $426 M over two years. The contract is up. The company not only sells Guyana the electricity, but it also supplies heavy fuel to the barge to produce the electricity at astronomical cost. It costs Guyana about US$0.26 per KW. A Guyanese owned company had offered to produce similar electricity using gas turbines (with Exxon supplying free gas) at a cost of about US$0.06; Exxon committed to supplying gas free to the government for the gas to energy project. The government rejected the Guyanese company’s offer in favor of Karpowership at four times the cost. Karpowership pollutes the environment burning expensive diesel whereas the Guyanese company had planned to burn clean gas with nil effect on the environment.
The company is seeking a large increment to continue to supply electricity to Guyana. Is there really a standoff between government and Karpowership on contract renewal or is the entire thing contrived to grant the company an emergency contract. Will the pocket of any official be fattened?
Shouldn’t Guyana turn to Guyanese companies to produce electricity at a fraction of the cost of Karpowership?
Yours truly,
Nathan Barton
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