GP&L meter shenanigans?

Dear Editor,

In my opinion the cost for electricity in Guyana is way too expensive, which causes electricity theft to always be a major problem in Guyana, and some recent moves by GP&L have me wondering if they are really serious in combating this situation. I dabble a little bit with electricity whenever there is need and I have personally seen some very incredible ways Guyanese could go to just to obtain free or cheaper electricity, which proves to be very costly or sometimes deadly.

For sometime now I have heard of lucky GP&L employees catching people stealing electricity and they ended getting bribed to stay quiet and they give the culprits complimentary advice on how to steal and when to steal current and it’s as if that person gets set for life with free or cheaper current.

Mr. Editor, recently GP&L started to send letters to their consumers inviting them to switch to the pre-paid meter which they believe would really lower consumers’ electricity expense by making them conserve more but I would like to know if GP&L are getting the results they expected. Word on the streets is that once you talk to the right person you could pay the guys anywhere between $30,000 – $15,000, depending on your property or your appearance and they will “do something in your meter”.

I believe that they bypass the whole card system and cause you to get free electricity all the time, but they remind you to purchase a $1,000 or any amount every month although it is useless so that the company will not get suspicious that you are getting free electricity if they decided to check their computer. Apart from that, those with the post paid meter have another option for around the same price range if the consumer is willing to  pay. When they come to install the new meter, they ask you to turn all your appliances in your house on (if you decided to do business with them) and they then turn a screw in the meter which causes the meter to turn very slow, so when all the appliances are off the meter strains to move.

Now given the history in Guyana and electricity thefts, one would assume that the officials have done their research well and would have come up with a more sturdy system to avoid this situation but instead we have people punishing and paying for those who are able to bribe and obtain free electricity. Now my question is, why don’t they re-check all new meters installed and charge the person/persons who install

them and not the consumers, because I am quite sure that there are names on the form

indicating who installed them.

Yours faithfully,
Sahadeo Bates