As yet another week of power outages and low and high voltages begins to wind down, one cannot help but wonder how it is that we seem to not be able to get it right. For a country that is not at war; that has only the odd civil protest now and then; that has not been affected by a huge natural disaster in four years, it is downright disheartening that two absolute necessities like light and water can only be supplied in fits and bursts and are extremely expensive.

A whole generation of Guyanese has grown up with generators, rechargeable lamps, candles, black tanks and drums and buckets for fetching water – even when their homes are only 10 ft or 12 ft high – as livelihood necessities. And this is what we call development.

On Tuesday, the World Bank released a pilot study, ‘Getting Electricity’, which is part of its ‘Doing Business’ project. According to the release, ‘Getting Electricity’ “presents findings on the kinds of constraints entrepreneurs around the world face in getting access to electricity and illustrates patterns in connection processes. The study tracks all the procedures, the time, and the cost required for a business to obtain an electricity connection for a newly constructed building. It highlights economies where this process is efficient and others where it could be made simpler and more efficient.”

The World Bank noted that the study only looked at the efficiency and cost of service provided to commercial customers by distribution utilities and was therefore limited. Guyana was not one of the 140 countries surveyed, but perhaps that was not really necessary. Anyone attempting to access service from this country’s lone power company – whether for business or personal use – would be familiar with the utter frustration and aggravation that have now become an integral part of that process and which continues long after you would have started receiving power supply.

Last week at a press conference, President Bharrat Jagdeo slammed the blackouts, which he deemed “unacceptable”, but at the same time he told citizens to be patient as Guyana Power and Light (GPL) was working towards delivering “a more reliable electricity supply”. According to the President, GPL said the blackouts were necessary to facilitate the installation of the high-power transmission line along the Railway embankment.

At the same media briefing, President Jagdeo informed that the decade-long plan to set up a hydropower plant at Amaila Falls now hinged on the outcome of an Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) meeting scheduled for Washington DC next month. If the IDB was in favour of financing the project, then it should get started by mid next year. Again, if it does get started then, given the speed at which projects in this country move, it could take upwards of five years before any of that cleaner energy is available to power any homes in the city or surrounding areas currently being underserved by GPL.

Lethem could fare a little better since a deal is currently being worked out for the rehabilitation of the non-operational Moco-Moco hydroelectricity plant. Prime Minister Sam Hinds had told residents of Region Nine last month that a Brazilian company was earmarked to take over the plant and would then sell power to the Lethem Power Company. A deal was set to be reached some time this month and Prime Minister Hinds said the rehabilitation could be completed in less than a year.

Meanwhile, in response to Opposition Leader Robert Corbin’s call for an explanation for the constant power disruptions, the Prime Minister told the National Assembly last Thursday that come November 5, the electricity situation should “return to normalcy”. Would this be the ‘normalcy’ that most urban Guyanese aged 30-something and younger have grown used to? Or would it be what is considered normal in most other countries in the world – stable power at the flick of a switch which does not leave the consumer bankrupt? Only time will tell.

Meantime, perhaps the government would like to explain why it has not been more proactive about investment in clean energy and why it appears to be the case that this must take the form of hydroelectricity or not at all.