A string of power outages that swept through several areas across the country over the weekend and also disrupted water supply in Berbice was owing to network problems and not generator shortages, the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) said yesterday.
Incidents ranging from transmission lines tripping to a damaged electrical pole affected the company’s supply to various areas, according to a statement from GPL, but it said that power supply to the affected areas would be restored before the day (yesterday) ended.
The company said that its Demerara Interconnected System (DIS) suffered a total shutdown early Monday morning when the Garden of Eden-Sophia (L1) transmission lined tripped, and while engineers were working on it a second shutdown occurred, but power was eventually restored. However, the Liliendaal to Success (F2) feeder tripped within minutes and upon inspection, it was discovered that there were three broken cross-arms on three different structures in the Sophia area; the structures carry power from Liliendaal to Coldigen. GPL said that the feeders had to be de-energised to be replaced, adding that there was a number of damaged switches on the feeder that also had to replace.
According to the company, a tractor at Foulis, West Coast Berbice knocked down a pole on Saturday last which affected customers in the Foulis and Belladrum areas, but the pole was subsequently replaced and power was restored. GPL said that the feeder from Onverwagt started to trip and resulted in various sub-areas being de-energised and inspected. This resulted in power being cut from Belladrum to Calcutta.
GPL pointed to the disruption of the water supply at Berbice noting that voltage difference due to long distances of transmitting power from Skeldon to Onverwagt compounded the problem.
The company said that its current problems are largely due to transmission and distribution problems on its network and not generation shortages except in Berbice where it pointed out that capacity is very close to evening peak demand resulting in intermitting outages in some areas. But the company noted that it is expecting its Canefield Mirrlees 5 MW unit to be back in service by next week.
GPL is urging consumers to be patient as they work to rectify the problems.
Even though the services from the GPL is below par…there are still some very hard working employees in the company, who i am sure feels upset whenever some nasty things are said about the company. If GPL upgrades their entire network like the way GT&T got theirs (disconnecting from inside) then many people would dwell in blackout…….thnak God dat nah happen.
GPL must have been having a continuous net work problems, because everyday we have been plagued by power outages. My electricity bill never reflects that, as a matter of fact it shows me consuming more energy every month.
there are many inefficient workers at GPL too.many shutdowns are due to operational errors.sleeping on the job is a big problem at GPL.the president gave GPL millions of dollars to spend on the network.it is time for a new management team for GPL or privatisation of the entity may be another option.
whats new, blackouts under the pnc and much more blackouts under this ppp govt, these are some of the issues that people need to come to grips with in guyana, vote against the ISSUES and not race.
GPL should be sued. Do you realise that everytime the lights go & are re started the meters literally jerk so it runs a bit faster!?!?! It’s highway robbery. A steady supply would mean a constant flow unless individual homes turn on other electrical devices. The GPL needs a class action suit in their boom boom so they could get their crap in order.
Blackout might not done for just now. So you got to try some survival techniques. When there is a blackout, take off your main switch and make sure all your appliances switched off too. Look out to the neighbour to see when power restored, then put on back your main switch and your appliances as needed. One problem though, if everybody in the neighbourhood do the same thing, then you won’t know power restored…unless there’s a GPL light post near you…and that’s another nancy story.
I can’t believe that the GPF IS now “ROUGHING UP” GPL – “there were three broken cross-arms on three different structures in the Sophia area; the structures carry power from Liliendaal to Coldigen.” The GPF don’t know when to stop. GPL – give the people a reliable supply of power Right Now!
LOL!!! You are soooooooo right on ALL counts