Prepaid meters now available at GPL

Guyana, GINA, Tuesday, March 7, 2017

Citizens who have opted for the prepaid meters to conserve on energy and save money, can now receive them as the Guyana Power and Light Incorporated (GPL) now has meters in stock.

During last year, through the European Union (EU) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) – funded Power Utility Upgrade Programme (PUUP), contracts for prepaid meters were inked, but were unavailable due to challenges in importing them.

Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson explained to the Government Information Agency (GINA), that the situation has been rectified, and persons can now uplift their prepaid meters.

“… the contracts were awarded late last year, but because of the amount of meters, they had to be shipped by sea. We flew in some for emergency purposes. The ones that came by air are here so the backlog of prepaid and postpaid meters will now be addressed sequentially on a first come first served basis,” the Minister explained.

Minster Patterson noted that postpaid meters are also available and ready for distribution.

Lot A of the PUUP programme caters for approximately 25,000 smart meters. Minister Patterson stated that the devices will be installed soon.

“The smart meters are like a cellphone and a chip whereby immediately after you run out of power or it trips, it highlights to persons the level of activities, so if you stop using it, it will give a signal to the central control. They (meters) will progressively be installed between now and the end of that LOT A,” Minster Patterson underlined.

Minister Patterson emphasised that despite GPL’s challenges, efforts are underway to improve the quality and level of services being offered to consumers.

By: Ranetta La Fleur