Buddy's being accused of thiefin electricity by the PPP.

Illegal connection does not mean thiefing. It could mean that the proper permits were not obtained. Nowhere in the article the writer used the word "steal".

GPL had reported discovering 44 houses and 50 street lights illegally connected.

While documenting the illegal activities, the staff reported that they had encountered hostility from an unidentified man and as a result police officers were brought in.

An official of the Guyana Power and Light Inc (GPL) Loss Reduction Division said the power company still hasn’t removed the illegal wiring in the gated community. 

Illegal activities - means thiefin, but thiefman don't interpret it that way.

hheheehheehe do you have a proper permit for your brain? or that space between your ears?

Dunce *****.....

It seems like the average Guyanese cannot afford to pay for electricity.

With all the progress still people cannot afford to pay for electricity.

Where is IDB $$M given for line losses?

– APNU’s Greenidge asks

Opposition member, Carl Greenidge, did not hesitate in a recent interview to roundly criticize Chairman of the Board of the Guyana Power and Light (GPL), Winston Brassington, and Prime Minister Samuel Hinds who has responsibility for the energy sector, as he stated that the company’s admission of its exorbitant losses are products of “downright mismanagement and too much political interference”.

APNU’s Carl Greenidge

The Shadow Minister of Finance of A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) also called on GPL’s management to explain what it did with the millions it received from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to help avoid this situation “which seems to have gotten from bad to worse”.
In an advertisement published in the media, the electricity company said that for the first quarter of 2013, it recorded the highest level of electricity loss and this was in the South Georgetown district. The company emphasized that the areas accounting for the 60 percent losses have some of the largest population densities.
Greenidge said that first of all, GPL’s management and more particularly, the Board, is drawn from too narrow a range of communities in the country. He stressed that recruitment should be based on competence and experience not on political affiliation.
Secondly, he asserted that Brassington in particular has lost the confidence of the country. He opined that the GPL Board Chairman is not competent to do the work to which he is assigned, for “he is wearing too many hats and is involved in so many conflicts of interest that his word on any particular issue is not worth a cent.”
Further, the former Finance Minister said that the GPL losses fiasco is but one of many issues that merits the firing of the Board and senior managers.
Greenidge said that while GPL’s management and Board complain that they are denied enough money to invest in the acquisition and installation of equipment, they have taken some of the funds received from taxpayers to acquire equipment not relevant to their most important problem, the reduction of losses.

Prime Minister, Samuel Hinds

The APNU financial point man said that the monies have been used to acquire equipment such as “the fibre optic cable that would help the associates of the former President, Bharrat Jagdeo, displace Digicel and GT&T as suppliers of Information Communication Technology services.”
As regards the technical and commercial losses being suffered by the company, Greenidge asked, “But whatever happened to the US$5M approved by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in 2011 to help reduce electricity losses?”
Greenidge, who served as the Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee when the parliament was not prorogued, sought to remind Hinds that the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) had provided the funds to help boost the efficiency of the country’s power system through electricity loss reduction measures and improvements in the operation and maintenance of the distribution network.
He said that since 2010, the level of losses in several areas seems to have increased from the 10 and 17% levels at which they then stood.
“As was previously reported to the media by the Prime Minister, the reasons have nothing to do with South Georgetown or the APNU supporters… The PM needs to look at the management of the company, political interference in the application of sanctions against businessmen and PPP supporters and the disciplining of staff involved in corrupt practices.
There is a much publicized case of a GPL manager transferring a staff member for taking action to terminate the manager’s theft of electricity. The high turnover of managers is testimony to this problem and it has affected the implementation of the IDB project,” Greenidge added.

GPL Chairman, Winston Brassington

GPL in its paid advertisement had said that it has 5,501 accounts in its system, for the areas which are serviced by Feeder SF5. The area covers Tucville Well, Sophia Well, South Ruimveldt Park east of Penny Lane, Festival City, North Ruimveldt, South Ruimveldt Gardens west of Penny Lane, West Ruimveldt, East Ruimveldt, Roxanne Burnham Gardens, Guyhoc Park and Ebenezer Drive. These districts accounted for GPL’s losses.
Following the area served by Feeder SF5, the next area with high electricity losses includes the East Coast Demerara with losses at 43.9 percent within the Sophia to Coldingen area and 42.2 percent in ‘A’ to ‘E’ Fields in Sophia.
Other areas with high losses include Coldingen to Bygeval with losses said to be at 37.1 percent, North Sophia to Success with losses at 34.4 percent.
The area served by Feeder SF3 which includes parts of Prashad Nagar, Lamaha Gardens, East of Sheriff and South of Dennis Street, Norton Street, Princes Street, Tucville, Meadowbrook, Werk-en-Rust west of John Street, West La Penitence and part of Middle Road with losses pegged at 37.4 percent.
As for those districts with losses in the 30 percent range, GPL said that these include those on Water Street between New Market Street and Avenue of the Republic and Brickdam where losses are at 36.9 percent.
From Edinburgh to Lookout, Parika on the West Demerara, losses are 35.9 percent. In Wakenaam, the losses are 37.2 percent while in Leguan the loss is pegged at 30.7 percent. In Bartica, losses are 32.3 percent. It said that the feeder in contention, SF5, is 60 percent with technical losses at 17.4 percent and non-technical losses at 42.6 percent.
GPL said that this should be compared with the area served by feeder VH-F3 (Vreed-en-Hoop to Windsor Forest) which with 7104 customers – as compared with 5,501 customers – has a total loss of 9.8 percent; 9.6 percent technical and 0.2 percent non-technical.
The power company noted that technical losses reflect those attributed to GPL’s network and non-technical losses are mainly electricity theft.
The total number of customers within the zone of contention (SP5) is 5,501 and losses per customer amount to US$49 or $10,000 per month, GPL said.
On the aforementioned figures, Greenidge sought to remind the public, and Hinds, that a good deal of the losses experienced by the company are not treated as such because they are the result of formal arrangements that allow electricity to be provided to businesses and individual households.
“There have been well known cases involving provision of cheap or free electricity to a prominent restaurant and to companies owned by or connected to high profile private sector representatives,” he asserted.
“Before Hinds and the PPP start stigmatizing sections of the population as having criminal tendencies, based on the GPL experience, they both should have a look at the sociology of crime in Guyana and consult their conscience and the facts on which the main Guyanese communities are involved in fraud and white collar crime, money laundering and drug trafficking in and out of Guyana.
Greenidge said, too, that he regards the comments by Hinds on the need for APNU leaders to call on its supporters to pay their electricity bills as reprehensible, implying as it does that only South Georgetown residents break the law and that they account for the bulk of GPL’s losses.
“But this is merely what one writer has called the ‘visible face of electricity theft’. There is an invisible side to the story. Many PPP areas are illegally receiving free street lighting and street lights account for a significant portion of losses the last time I saw an audit of the known losses. More importantly, there have been cases even of GPL Board members stealing electricity. Indeed, one newspaper report suggested that some of them believe that free electricity is their entitlement,” he added.
Greenidge emphasized that point that needs to be borne in mind is that the PM is being malicious and the attempt to stigmatize one Guyanese community is part of a pattern of misrepresentation and manipulation of information in “their game of ethnic politics.”

WTF????  Dat shit is scary

Berbice people, rich and poor, steal electricity because they are pissed and want the PPP to have a hard time at the next election.  

Read the other article i posted, this is not limited to Berbice or any one area in Guyana, Electricity theft is across the board. People cannot afford to live in GY anymore.

Quote Skeldon.....

Buddy's being accused of thiefin electricity by the PPP.

Illegal connection does not mean thiefing. It could mean that the proper permits were not obtained. Nowhere in the article the writer used the word "steal".

Quote Redux:

GPL had reported discovering 44 houses and 50 street lights illegally connected.

While documenting the illegal activities, the staff reported that they had encountered hostility from an unidentified man and as a result police officers were brought in.

An official of the Guyana Power and Light Inc (GPL) Loss Reduction Division said the power company still hasn’t removed the illegal wiring in the gated community. 

Illegal activities - means thiefin, but thiefman don't interpret it that way.

Poor Skeldon:

Always on the wrong side -

(1) Support PPP Crime, Corruption & Nepotism.

(2) Turn a Blind eye to Narco Smuggling in Guyana.

(3) See nothing wrong with Kwame, Manni or Yuji Buggering.

(4) Want Berbicans & Indians to keep supporting PPP although they are Corrupt.

(5) See nothing wrong with House of Israel Killers & Black thugs in Top position at Freedom House & Office of the President.

(6) Support & Defending Buddy's thiefing Electric from GPL.

(7) Want Berbicians to Drink Rum at Rita Place and support PPP thiefing.

Berbicians thief because they are thieves. It is not to be excused on the backs of the PPP. We have become a corrupt culture. People try anything to get over because there is no recourse in the law of the state. Try taking someone to court in Guyana and you find you have to allocate one tenth of you your life to that activity because it will go on for years. It is a land where brutality is the rule.

Stormy, To a point I agree with you. The younger generation of Berbicians are a disgrace to Berbice.

What u expect, 65 years ago the Jagans promised them if they kick out the English and support him in his communist quest they would have a better life. Sixty five years later, that whole generation died off and the promise never came through.

They have adopted a new culture, hip hop, gang bang, dope up, robbery, murder, and free living off of others who is trying to make a living the right way, by earning it.   

Buddy is an electricity tief from long ago. When he had the hotel, he would never pay the electricity bill and then the PPP Kangaroo Court only asked him to pay part of the bill he owed.

–has already handed over $16M, returned transformers

Owner of Buddy’s Inter-national Hotel, Omprakash Shivraj was yesterday ordered to pay Guyana Power and Light Incorporated (GPL) just over $35 million owed to the power company for the supply of electricity.

GPL had filed two actions in the Commercial Court in which it sought to have Shivraj pay the just over $59 million which the hotel had utilized in electricity over a period. The cases, heard by Justice Rishi Persaud, were adjourned on April 21, 2009 for final report on settlement yesterday.

Action Number 444/08 – Commercial Division (CD) and Action Number 445/08 – CD, both filed last year, sought to have the hotel owner pay $50,131,881 and $8,893,290 respectively. Justice Persaud yesterday granted judgment in the sum of $30,133,577 in Action Number 444/08 – CD and $4,893,290 in Action Number 445/08 – CD. Interest at a rate of six per cent is also to be paid in both cases.

However, 41 per cent ($23,998,304) of the original sum sought by the power company was not accounted for in the judgment. Stabroek News was reliably informed that Shivraj had paid GPL a total of $16 million in four equal monthly instalments prior to yesterday’s judgment. In addition to these instalments, transformers, for which Shivraj was also in debt, were returned to GPL thus settling the debt.

Shivraj has been given until the end of June to pay the sum granted in Action Number 445/08 – CD in two instalments. The larger sum granted in Action Number 444/08 – CD will be paid in monthly instalments of $4 million until payment is complete.

In one statement of claim, GPL said Buddy’s owed $50,131,881, being the balance of an amount due and owing for electricity supplied up to January 2008, in addition to interest and associated court costs. At the time of the filing of the suit in April 2008, GPL said, it had been supplying Buddy’s International Hotel with electricity from the start of its operations in February 2007, for which it received a single payment of $3,459,547, despite repeated demands. As a result, GPL billed Shivraj for $39, 417,217, which represented the total energy and demand charges due to GPL up to January 2008 and $10,714,664 constituting a non-refundable capital contribution. Shivraj, however, did not pay the bill. A separate court action filed in May, 2008 claimed $8,893,290 for electricity supplied.

Meanwhile, when asked why electricity supply to Buddy’s International Hotel had not been disconnected after its debt had reached a certain amount, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GPL Bharrat Dindyal said that GPL had ceased service to the hotel. However, the hotel had offered a proposal for payment and was subsequently reconnected. He refused to comment further.

“They were disconnected… they came into the company and offered a proposal [for payment],” Dindyal, said last Tuesday.
The cases were heard in part by Justice James Bovell-Drakes and more recently by Justice Persaud, with the latter dismissing both suits on March 18, 2009 for want of prosecution.

Reacting to an April 8 Stabroek News article, which reported that both suits had been dismissed GPL had stated in a press release the same day that the order to dismiss the claims had been recalled. The company had further stressed that it was “making every effort to ensure” that all monies owed to it “are paid in full.”

It is still not clear exactly how both cases had advanced to the stage of dismissal. There has still been no disclosure by the court of the order being recalled.
In its April 8 press statement, GPL had said that on February18, 2009 when the case was called in the Commercial Court Shivraj’s attorney “confirmed to the court that [the defendant] had agreed, in principle, to settle GPL’s claim.” It said the case was then adjourned to March 18, 2009 “for terms of settlement to be prepared by the parties and [submitted] to the court.”

According to GPL, “the matter did not appear on the commercial list” on March 18, 2009 but the hotel’s defence attorney, who presented himself before the court, allegedly failed to inform the court that GPL had already delivered draft terms of settlement. Further, GPL said that the defence attorney failed to indicate that he had not formally responded to the terms of settlement, “and the court therefore dismissed the claim.” The hotel’s attorney Robin Hunte declined to comment on this when approached.

The court was informed of GPL’s position sometime later and “recalled its order,” the utility company press statement had said, adding that the action is therefore still extant and has been fixed to continue before Justice Persaud.

Stabroek News viewed documentation for both claims where the last action recorded was the dismissal of both suits last month. Records of Actions Numbers 444/08-CD (where GPL claimed just over $50 million) and 445/08-CD (where GPL claimed just over $8 million) show that on March 18, the defence attorney had appeared in the Commercial Court before Justice Persaud and the matters were dismissed for want of prosecution.
Attorney-at-law Timothy Jonas represented GPL in both cases.

Many, many Businesses are stealing from GPL.  It is time to deal with them!!

Yuh fughet buggering that is a key part of de mission by Anus and his gang of "Network" Builders.

that right deal with the thief this is what the AFC WILL be doing to the ppp you have  a problem with that or you support the ppp thiefing 

Warria wid all this progress in Guyana and the fancy buildings and fancy cars why people have to steal electricity I really don't understand this.

They pay for the PPP elections campaign so nothing will ever be done with them. Typical example is Buddy and the millions of dollars he scammed from GPL.