GPL raid finds entire community illegally powered

Millions of dollars in Guyana Power and Light Inc. (GPL) wiring were removed from “Dr Charles Scheme” Coverden, East Bank Demerara (EBD) yesterday, after GPL operatives ‘raided’ the area and found that the entire community was illegally powered. This was so because most, if not all of the residents were squatting and the community was not regularized, so GPL did not have the district as being part of its network. The village of Sarah Johanna, EBD, was also

GPL field service operatives disconnecting the illegal wiring in Coverden, EBD, from substandard poles.

tackled.

In the Coverden Scheme, there was a combination of makeshift poles and even meters. Sources disclosed that such wires could have only been sourced from GPL’s Transmission and Distribution (T&D) Department, which has poor accountability, as residents of the village disclosed that they paid large sums of money to acquire wiring to power their homes. Some households pooled money in sums of $40,000-$50,000 to get GPL external contractors to run wiring to power their homes. Many residents were of the impression that they were actually making legal transactions with GPL officials. Some of the wiring was 15 feet above the ground which is very dangerous, while in other situations, illegal meters were also installed on substandard poles.

“We thought these people were genuinely giving us original GPL connections,” one resident noted.

However, when GPL Field Services Manager Looknauth Singh was contacted for a comment, he emphasised that residents should source power the legal way and visit GPL offices to seek advice on how they could do so.
He also disclosed that many more villages have been indentified to be raided for illegal connections as the power company loses millions of dollars annually because of illegal connections.

Meanwhile, in Salem, Parika, East Bank Essequibo another illegal network was discovered Friday last as GPL uncovered 2,000 feet of cable on poles that were illegal; this was also removed along with a 25 KVA transformer, in addition to various other wiring. The value of items removed exceeded $4M.
It was disclosed that the transformer was bought by a resident who recently returned to Guyana to live and it was not registered or tested by GPL.

The remigrant related that because the operatives that installed the transformers and wiring were GPL contactors he thought his $1.5M was well spent. However, this was not the case.

GPL officials noted that if residents need a network to be created they should visit the GPL office and apply, anything else would be considered illegal, since GPL would have to do the design and issue an estimate, based on capital works.