APNU says GPL shifting blame to consumers

Sep 12, 2026 News

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— demands answers on generation shortfall

(Kaieteur News) – The A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) has accused the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) of shifting responsibility for the country’s electricity problems onto consumers, while failing to adequately explain its own generation shortfall.

Speaking at the coalition’s press conference on Friday, Member of Parliament, Sherod Duncan said GPL’s call for consumers to conserve electricity cannot be used to excuse the utility’s failure to ensure adequate generation and a reliable distribution system.

He pointed to GPL’s September 7 figures, which showed 265.6 megawatts of available generation against a peak demand of 257 megawatts.

Duncan said the figures raise questions, particularly when compared with GPL’s August 14 projection that 280 megawatts of reliable generation would be available by the end of August.

He said the coalition wants GPL to explain the difference and identify the generating units that are unavailable.

According to the MP, said consumers should not be blamed for using electricity, particularly as temperatures rise and Guyana’s economy continues to expand.

The coalition noted that GPL itself has acknowledged overloaded feeders and transformers, arguing that these problems cannot simply be placed at the feet of consumers.

“Responsible conservation has its place, but it cannot excuse inadequate planning,” he said.

Duncan said the government has known for years that electricity demand would increase.

He pointed to President Irfaan Ali’s 2021 statement that demand was expected to nearly triple between 2022 and 2027 and that the transmission and distribution network would require a “massive upgrade.”

APNU said that warning should have been followed by adequate investment and planning.

Instead, Guyanese are being asked to conserve electricity while businesses lose trading hours, food can spoil and families struggle through repeated outages, he stated.

Duncan also questioned the continued delay of the Gas-to-Energy project, noting that testing of the first turbine is now targeted for around December 4.

He said the expected 57 megawatts from the first turbine cannot be presented as delivery of the full 300-megawatt first phase.

He also called for greater transparency from GPL and the government on available generation, unavailable units, outages and the timelines for bringing new capacity onto the national grid.

According to him, consumers deserve answers on why the country continues to face power shortages despite the billions of dollars now available to the government from oil revenues.

On Monday, GPL blamed the overload of its generation capacity on consumers’ constant and heavy reliance on air conditioning, electric fans and the switching on of their lights in the evening.

Head of GPL’s Executive Management Committee, Kesh Nandlall, during a news conference, said the current El Nino condition is driving up the use of air conditioning units, and ultimately the use of electricity.

“I just want to give you some information as to what is really happening it occurs around 7 to 9 pm that is when everybody goes home and puts on their air conditioning and since the sun is hot in the day and a lot of houses including my home is concrete, what happens is the concrete absorbs the heat and releases it in the afternoon so people are putting on their air-conditioning units, their fans, their lights and it creates a significant surge and requirement of power. We are seeing…feeders now being overloaded, the medium voltage feeder and the transformers in the neighbourhoods are also being affected,” Nandlall said.

As a result, Nandlall stressed the importance of energy conservation, particularly during periods of peak demand, and encouraged customers to practice responsible energy use. He also reaffirmed GPL’s commitment to developing a smarter, more efficient and responsive electricity grid.

These interventions, he said forms part of GPL’s ongoing efforts to address immediate network challenges while building a stronger and more dependable electricity system. “The company is investing approximately US$800 million to modernise Guyana’s transmission and distribution infrastructure.”

Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Bharat Harjohn noted that GPL is working on improvements on the feeders with various analytics being done to highlight and determine how to effectively improve the system. He noted that there are also several separate incidents, including electrical faults at the Kingston and another substation, as well as feeders tripping in sections of the network.

According to Harjohn, as soon as the problems occur, technical teams are immediately deployed to identify and correct the faults and restore electricity supply to affected customers as safely and quickly as possible.

Emergency works were also undertaken at Houston following an interruption affecting customers from the Ruimveldt Industrial Site to Nandy Park. GPL’s Head of Engineering and Projects, Ryan Ross, explained that the programme includes new 230-kilovolt transmission lines, additional substations, new 69-kilovolt transmission infrastructure and approximately 350 kilometres of medium-voltage distribution network.

He said the power company is also working towards establishing a smart grid by 2030.

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• APNU, consumers, GPL, shifting blame

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