-GPL to meet with earmarked communities
The Guyana Power and Light (GPL) says customers are set to benefit from its prepaid metering system which will allow them to manage their consumption of electricity.
GPL officials are to meet with residents in earmarked communities to inform them of the new technology and the benefits to be derived from its implementation. According to a Government Information Agency (GINA) press release GPL CEO Bharrat Dindyal said the company intends to provide training simultaneously with the installation of the meter.
He said through the new system consumers will become more knowledgeable about their electricity use and a significant reduction in demand is expected. The system contains a central meter that is erected on lampposts also with other households. A display unit is then installed in the consumer’s house, interconnected to the central meter. According to Dindyal upon purchasing power the customer discloses his/her meter number to the seller and the number is used to access GPL’s billing system. It permits the consumer to indicate the quantity of power to be purchased. During this process a 20-digit code is assigned which is linked to the meter number issued to the customer.
Dindyal also said “If someone remembers the code or takes away the paper they can’t steal your power because it is specific to your meter so it’s secure. Even if you lose it you can just call into GPL and we can give you back that code,” he added. The CEO further explained that the prepaid system has a wide range of features such as a built-in alarm mechanism and an electricity duration indicator. The system also caters for emergency power in cases where a customer forgot to purchase electricity. This feature is available on a scratch card.
GINA said the power company is exploring the possibilities of installing this technology during the pilot phase with a $500 credit start-up. GPL said customers can request as much as $1,000 credit and every time it shuts down credit can be added to their account. In five years GPL expects to install over 70,000 prepaid meter systems.
Imagine the poorest people will pay upfront for what is a basic right. This is discriminatory and typical of a company that puts its needs first rather than its customers.
I do not think that will work try it.
Why should they pay before using the supply…..Guyana need a board of Public utilities to look into the interest of the Guyanese People.
The amount of corruption that would cause , it would be a night mare.
Who determines who will have to use the prepaid meters?
Hope it does not end up like some phone calls in which payment is extracted even though no service was recieved.
no matter what they do,ppl will find a way to still thief electricity.
this will happen until the invented a system like GT&T when you dont pay your bills, all the have to do is pull a plug at the head office and you get disconnected.
good luck gpl
…if it’s not the same ,, then it’s very similar to that of the system in england !…. which i think is tamper proof ,, but here we have to re-tool the syatem and re-calibrate the minds of those ,, who ultimately will be using this system !…
why this was not done in january of 1993 is beyond me … i think it was beyond the PPP led govt to see then ,, what they’re seeing now !….. 16 years to see the failures of what they endured for 28 years !….
oh ! how visionless ! oh ! GUYANA .. when will this curse turn the corner ???????????????????????????????????????????????????
What did the PPP endure for 28 years? and 16 years of failure – so who is responsible?
to help u along here’s the gist of what i was meaning…
if the PPP was not so visionless they would have remembered that for 28 years they suffered and so did the nation ,, should it not have occured to them “naturally” in january of 93 ,, that not only light,, but water ,, health and education is a MUST do
followed by the prefix “re” in all abt GY !…. aftah de pnc …
aftah 16 [whole] years now dem see fit fuh introduce wah dem bin fi duh fum day 1……
an ah sarri dat all u can see is “race” in it….
the likelyhood of power interuption comes into question,consumers might experience a heart attack when they discovered that all their money left on this pre-paid service has somehow dissapeared when power is restored. like some people who only have the least of appliances and received bills for many thousands of dollars.