Over 200 complaints laid against GPL for 2019

The Public Utilities Commission (PUC) which has oversight for utility companies in Guyana said it received over 200 complaints against the Guyana Power and Light Inc. from customers last year.

At a press conference Friday, Complaints Manager, Destra Bourne stated that for the year 2019, the PUC received 262 complaints against GPL and 86 complaints against GWI and other utility companies.

The complaints against the companies include allegations of tampering, application of service, compensation, disconnection and reconnection, billing, technical issues and transfer of service.

Bourne highlighted that some of these complaints are still pending a resolution.

“Each complaint we deem it to be important so we try to resolve those issues in the shortest time possible,” Bourne said.

Chairperson for PUC, Dela Britton said that within six months they will embark on an internship for students from technical and vocational schools to expand their human resource capacity.

Britton explained that with the expansion of utility services in hinterland areas, the PUC will need to expand its services.

The interns will be trained as investigatory officers and then deployed across the country to deal with complaints and other issues.

“We really and truly are hoping to get that moving by the end of next month in terms of finishing the negotiations for the school and then we can start to really recruit interns for the different areas and sectors,” Britton said.

Meanwhile, cognizant of the issues and challenges facing persons along the Essequibo Coast, the PUC will be opening its fourth office on Monday at Henrietta Road, Essequibo, Coast.

The PUC will now be able to monitor the quality of service of utilities on the Essequibo Coast instead of having consumers call or travel to the Georgetown office.

Britton said a feasibility study was conducted before opening the office.

“We have only received for the year 2019 four complaints for Essequibo and those four complaints is not indicative of the fact that there are no complaints on its utopia in Essequibo, it means that people cannot access our services,” Britton said.

Other offices are located in New Amsterdam, Berbice and Linden, however the Linden office is not quite up and running.

“Linden still taking baby steps; we have a lot of work to do in Linden to really get the message out that we are in Linden,” Britton said.