| – Managerial reforms and capacity building taking place – Minister Patterson By: Kiana WilburgTechnical and Commercial line loss which currently stands at 28.5 percent, has bled the Guyana Power and Light Inc. of millions of dollars annually.But with the help of a loan programme sponsored by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), this state of affairs is expected to be drastically improved.Minister of Public Works, David Patterson, who also shares responsibility for the energy sector, told this newspaper last night that GPL intends to “significantly reduce” the loss way below 23 percent at the end of the loan programme.Asked if there is going to be a complete restructuring of the company, given its worrying financial performance, Patterson said, “No,Wholesale Authentic Jerseys, not at this moment. But with the IDB loan programme, there will be some managerial reforms and capacity building. The programme will assist us in being more efficient in tackling the line loss which as you know occurs through electricity theft but at the end of the programme we are expected to bring the line loss below the short term target of 23 percent. It will be significantly reduced.”Minister of Public Works, David PattersonPatterson reminded that this IDB loan programme of about US$54M was started in 2013.“However, of the US$54M only $300M was disbursed because of slothfulness of the previous administration in getting this programme completed. But I have now put this on the front burner and we are moving expeditiously with it. This programme was actually taken on during the saga of the Amaila Falls Hydro Project,” the Minister said.“IDB had indicated to the then government that should such an energy project be pursued, then a condition of the loan programme would be to effectively address the capacity problems facing GPL, one of which was the line loss. They stressed on this condition because they wanted to ensure that the real benefits that would accrue from such a project would be enjoyed by the consumers.”The Minister with responsibility for energy said that this programme will not only deal with the technical and commercial line loss, but pave the way for government to move ahead with projects for alternate energy sources in the future.Earlier this year, GPL in a paid advertisement had said 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 loss have some of the largest population densities.It said, too 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 loss includes the East Coast Demerara with loss 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 loss include Coldingen to Bygeval with losses said to be at 37.1 percent, North Sophia to Success with loss at 34.4 percent.The area served by Feeder SF3,Cheap Adidas Superstar Shoes, 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 loss pegged at 37.4 percent.As for those districts with loss 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,Nike Air Max Shoes Sale, 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,Nike Air Max 90 Black Women, losses are 32.3 percent. It said that the feeder in contention, SF5,Nike Shox Women Clearance, is 60 percent with technical loss 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 loss reflects 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 had said.The A Partnership for National Unity and the Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) had lambasted the previous administration for failing to properly deal with the issue of the line loss.The APNU+AFC had said that the company’s admission of its exorbitant losses is a product of “downright mismanagement and too much political interference”.Foreign Affairs Minister, Carl Greenidge who served as the APNU’s financial point man in the opposition, had called on GPL’s management to explain what it did with the millions it received from another IDB programme to help avoid this situation “which seems to have gotten from bad to worse”. It never did.Greenidge had lashed out at GPL’s former Chairman Winston Brassington in particular,Nike Roshe Run Online Shop, saying that he lost the confidence of the country. He opined that the former 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 had said that the GPL line loss fiasco is but one of many issues that merits the firing of the Board and senior managers.Greenidge had said that while GPL’s management and Board complained 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 line loss.He reminded that millions were spent to acquire equipment such as “the fibre optic cable that would help the associates of the former President, Bharrat Jagdeo and displace Digicel and GT&T as suppliers of Information Communication Technology services.”As regards to the technical and commercial loss being suffered by the company, Greenidge had 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 recalled 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 had said that since 2010, the level of loss in several areas seems to have increased from the 10 and 17 percent levels at which they then stood. |
