The Guyana Power and Light Company (GPL) yesterday announced that it has terminated its payment collection arrangements with Bill Direct (Guyana) Inc, with effect from Tuesday, September 13, 2011.
In a press statement, GPL assured its customers who have made payments to Bill Direct up to and including Saturday, September 17, that their accounts will be credited. GPL did not offer an explanation for its decision to end the collection arrangement, however, in April this year it had temporarily scrapped its agreement with the bill payment service, following discrepancies in its financial operations. This newspaper was made to understand that sums of money—said to be in excess of US$1M—that would have been paid to Bill Direct by GPL customers were not paid over to the power company.
At the time, GPL Chief Executive Officer Bharrat Dindyal would only confirm that there were some discrepancies in the financial operations of the billing company. The two companies subsequently met to work out an arrangement for repayment.
GPL yesterday advised customers to pay their bills at any of its commercial offices or any of the other approved collection agents, namely, Bill Express, the Guyana Post Office Cooperation, Republic Bank, the Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry Limited, Demerara Bank, and Citizens Bank.
It also apologised for any inconvenience caused by the situation.
