Samuel Hinds, Prime Minister of Guyana

Georgetown, Guyana --- (METERING.COM) --- May 13, 2008 – The government of Guyana is busy implementing restructuring plans at Guyana Power & Light (GPL) in an effort to improve efficiency and reduce operating costs, but says it has no plans to privatize the utility.

Efforts to reduce both technical and non-technical losses at the utility have also been successful. In 2006 consulting group Power Planning Associates (PPA) was commissioned to establish the amount of losses experienced, and reported technical losses at 11.6 percent, with commercial losses coming in at 28.8%. The company’s most recent report reveals average total losses of 33.4 percent.

Commercial losses include faulty meters, energy theft and incorrect meter readings. Several programs are in place or planned to reduce the amount of power losses still further, such as the deployment of prepayment (pay-as-you-go) meters or electronic meters with an anti-tamper feature. An improved CIS system is also being implemented.

GPL’s Development and Expansion Program, covering the years 2008 – 2012, has as one of its goals a reduction in technical and non-technical losses, which should be brought down to 6.75 percent and 7.9 percent respectively by 2012.