Residents of Kwakwani, in Region 10, started receiving a normal power supply once again yesterday but they say they are still waiting to meet with the management of the Kwakwani Utilities Incorporated (KUI) to avoid a recurrence of frequent interruptions they have endured over the past three months.
Residents protested against the KUI last week due to the sporadic blackouts.
Charles Tom, a resident, told Stabroek News last week that the community had been enduring more than eight hours of power outages per day in the preceding three months and that they had been affecting the water supply to residents.
“We getting blackout about eight hours every day and we getting water problems because when you get blackout, you not getting water and when the current come on, people can’t pump because the water not there,” Tom explained, while noting that the situation seemed to be worsening.
A resident, who did not want to be named, related that yesterday saw a constant supply of electricity as well as water.
The residents had explained that KUI procures fuel from the Russian aluminium company Rusal to power its generators and the small community has been experiencing persistent and lengthy power outages due to their inability to purchase the normal amount of fuel as before.
However, the resident explained yesterday that the utility company was able to procure some amount of fuel to keep their engines running consistently.
Despite the development, other residents say they are still want to meet with the board of directors for the KUI to ascertain what exactly has been the cause for the constant power outages.
“Yeah everything seems normal for now. And I say that again: for now. Because we don’t know how long this is going to last and we honestly don’t expect it to last long. They probably going to keep it up for couple days so we don’t protest but we will be watching,” a resident explained.
“We hear about the lack of fuel; nobody ever told us that directly. That’s what we are hearing from people. We don’t know exactly if that is true and that is why we asking for them to sit down with us and having a conversation. And if we the residents can help to make everything better, then we will because nobody wants to be in blackout for long hours,” the resident explained.
