In a bid to avert a power crisis during the Christmas season, government has secured an additional 10 megawatts of power from Miami to boost supply at the Demerara grid, Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr Roger Luncheon announced yesterday.
Luncheon told reporters at his post-Cabinet media briefing that the 10 megawatts of power had been successfully sourced and that a shipment of the appropriate blends of fuel for the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) systems secured for the season and into the New Year.
On Thursday last, President Bharrat Jagdeo said the country should expect “a series of blackouts for the Christmas season,” owing to deteriorating finances at the power company, escalating prices in fuel and GPL’s failure to inform the government of the situation. He said in the interim government was seeking to bring in a generating set from the Bahamas but “that is going to be tight”. In response to a query about the set from the Bahamas yesterday, Luncheon said the administration was still considering it.
Jagdeo said that the power crisis was as a result of what appeared to be a “total breakdown in communication and planning” by GPL and the Guyana Energy Authority (GEA). He said that in July 2005, when there was a 12% increase in electricity rates, fuel was US$33.50 per barrel and the current price is now US$98 per barrel. The president also said GPL knew that the company’s finances have been deteriorating for some time and that they failed to inform the administration. The GEA’s blunder, he said, was in not making adequate arrangements for heavy oil.
Additionally, Jagdeo said the entities did not say that switching the fuel could not be done over a short period of time because transitional arrangements needed to be put in place.
Luncheon yesterday said that Cabinet was further briefed on GPL’s handling of the generation crisis and, both in the Demerara and Berbice grids efforts are being made to ensure that peak demands are met for the season. He said in the Berbice grid, accelerated maintenance should see stabilisation of existing capacity and that the successful completion of the current phase of the Skeldon Project should also bring an additional 7.5 megawatts of power into the grid during the season. (see story on page 3)
Luncheon also said that Cabinet has thrown its support into GPL’s recently unveiled power conservation plan. He said too that Cabinet has approved a waiver of taxes on equipment to be used to generate renewable power.
