Guyana Power and Light
Editorial
Guyana Power and Light Inc (GPL) has at last responded in a structured way to many of the public criticisms levelled against it. Not a moment too soon. It is surely a mistake, particularly in the case of a recently privatised public utility, which of necessity interacts with thousands of customers every day, to neglect its relations with the public. One had begun to get the impression that the managers of GPL were so overwhelmed by the problems they encountered when they arrived that they were unable to respond, except defensively, to complaints. Yet there had been a due diligence procedure as part of the privatisation process which ought to have given the buyers a good indication of the problems involved, ranging from line losses, to old equipment, to poor employee morale, to a dreadful accounting system and so on. Though this is not, for a variety of reasons, one of those text book cases beloved by the Harvard Business School, as there are so many imponderable factors, at the end of the day the problems are partly managerial and though there is no equivalent to actually arriving at the office and taking over and facing that reality to find out how bad things really are, one would have felt that a good idea of the parameters of the problems would have been obtained in advance. Since President Hoyte set in motion the privatisation process and tried to sell the Guyana Electricity Corporation we had argued that that was a top priority. We had also argued that price was not the crucial factor, what was of vital importance was the incalculable loss the country had suffered for at least two decades because of blackouts and power surges. Businesses had closed and the quality of life for everyone had been reduced. The country could not develop, we argued, with an electricity supply that was so unreliable. We had even suggested that the GEC be sold to Leucadia, who were then interested, for $l.00 provided they had an acceptable business plan for improving the situation in an acceptable timeframe. We still believe that privatisation was right and necessary. It was a tragedy when the deal with Sask Power was not closed in l997. In l999 a deal was concluded with CDC/ESBI and the managers came in. Expectations were high and there can be no doubt that there has been a lot of disappointment. The reliability of power supply is more or less where it was when they took over in October last year, a lot better than it was ten years ago but still subject to a number of annoying, unscheduled blackouts. The billing system is still most unsatisfactory. Not only are estimates sometimes too high, they are as often too low and some customers have been paying these low estimates for years despite repeated efforts, in vain, to have their meters read and proper bills sent out. It would be grossly unfair to suddenly present them with a huge bill for the arrears. A line must be drawn in the sand when a new and efficient system is brought in. Power surges still occur and equipment is damaged. And so on. In its press release last week GPL told us that much of the generating equipment is old and needs replacement, the transmission and distribution systems are in a bad way (inadequate conductor lines, rotting poles, overloaded transformers) and that fundamental design problems include the use of two different frequencies, three different high tension voltages and two different supply voltages. It also said the bulk of its investment so far had been used to cover additional operating expenses due to increased oil prices and that US $80 million is needed to reverse the "current appalling conditions". It is trying to raise this with international banks and other institutions but "the pre-requisites for accessing finance in international markets include a stable socio-economic environment and clear evidence of a strong and consistent revenue stream through customer tariffs and payments". In short, there is no quick fix available and problems are likely to continue for some time. It is a good idea to set up a customer call centre to receive complaints, which should include dealing with repairs to damaged equipment. But we believe more information should be given to the public in the shape of a credible updated business plan. What equipment is needed to improve and stabilise generation, transmission and distribution? If funds become available how long will it take to acquire and install this? What impact is all of this likely to have on the price of electricity? Most reasonable people will accept that the new owners and managers inherited enormous problems when they took over, not least in the area of personnel. What they want to find out, and are entitled to be told in some detail, is how bad it is, what exactly is going to be done to deal with it, how long this is likely to take and what it's likely to cost. GPL cannot handle this by retreating into a shell. It must, as far as possible, take the public into its confidence and last week's exercise was a useful beginning. It should strengthen its public relations capacity and, for example, be represented at public seminars to put its case forward. If people have a clear idea of the problems and what is being done they are likely to be more understanding.
 Follow the goings-on in Guyana
|