Dear Editor,
In response to the recent letter published in Stabroek News dated November 16, 2015 and captioned ‘GPL’s lack of access claim is hogwash’, the Guyana Power and Light Inc (GPL) wishes to emphatically state that GPL injects considerable effort into ensuring that its monthly bills are premised on actual meter reading. The issuance of bills calculated on actual readings is one of our key performance indicators.
GPL remains commited to maximizing the retrieval of monthly meter readings despite the challenges faced by the meter readers, such as locked gates, ferocious dogs and inconvenient location of meters on premises. GPL’s monthly bill currently displays a message to alert the customer of the period when they should expect a visit from the meter reader. This is an initiative to sensitize the customer, so that arrangements could be made to accommodate the meter reader for this important exercise.
GPL had initiated an exercise during 2014 to formally notify those customers whose consumption was estimated in excess of three consecutive months. Mr Lall’s letter to the editor suggests that he was not in receipt of this formal correspondence. GPL will re-exmaine this process, given this revelation.
Whilst GPL is not in the habit of disclosing customers’ account information publicly, we can unequivocally confirm that Mr Lall’s statement with respect to the difference between his estimated and actual consumption is grossly inaccurate.
Further, as GPL’s Public Relations Officer I am obligated to ensure I address customers’ complaints, whether verbal or written, in a timely manner. GPL’s Public Relations Office has a procedure for perusing the daily newspapers for related articles that may require a response from our company. Correspondence regarding Mr Lall’s meter reading grievance was not sent to me via email until November 16, 2015, prior to that, all conversations were on other subject areas.
We, however, extend our thanks to Mr Lall for his letter, which afforded us the opportunity to clarify this matter.
Yours faithfully,
Shevion Sears-Murray
Public Relations Officer
