Consumers Concerns
Self-praise is no recommendation. I doubt whether anyone who is billed by Guyana and Power Light Inc. will endorse the statement made by that company in its advertisement which appeared in the Sunday newspapers. The claim is made there that since October l999 GPL has:
The advertisement goes on to say -
What will the changes in electricity prices from July 1, 2001,mean to the consumer?
By Eileen Cox
Stabroek News
July 15, 2001
*Improved the reliability of electricity supply
*Implemented improvements to billing and related systems
*Improved customer services
*Undertaken programmes to repair and upgrade the generation, transmission and distribution systems.
"While GPL is proud of what has been achieved to date, there is still much to be done." All that one can say is "Well, well!" GPL top brass should spend a day or two listening to the complaints of their customers. Today I heard one woman complain that GPL was "tearing her skin". They should visit their office at Phoenix Park and see the poor conditions there.
As for the outages, we all know that GEC had improved on this but the Private Sector claimed that it wanted privatisation to end all blackouts. Privatisation to GPL resulted in a marked increase in outages. Even as I came to the computer, I heard a neighbour's generator. The current was off. In some areas the outages occur regularly. In business areas, outages may last for hours, stalling the work scheduled for that day.
The billing system installed by GPL is nothing but atrocious.
Many customers of GPL receive exceedingly high bills for one month's supply. Bills arrive within two weeks of each other. Payment is requested not at the end of a month but at odd days in the month when monthly paid employees are out of cash. Customer service is far from satisfactory.
Payment of extraordinarily high salaries to GPL's management team has had nothing but negative results.
GPL has reported that it has 120,000 customers and approximately 74,000 residential customers have recorded consumption of electricity below 100 kWh per month. The fixed charge for customers who consume less than 100 kWh per hour was $194.11. It has now risen to $211.58, an increase of $17.47.
The charge per kWh for these customers was $23.21. From July 1, the charge will be $25.30. With a consumption of 95 units the charge would have been $2,205. It will now be $2,404, an increase of $199. The increases will be $17 - fixed charge, $199 - consumption, giving you a total increase of $216.
In its advertisement, the GPL says that the average electricity bill for the 74,000 residential customers is expected to increase by approximately G$150 per month. Because the billing system of the previous company, Guyana Electricity Corporation, was in arrears, GPL has been collecting additional revenue. There are still arrears to be collected as the latest bill circulated is for the month of May, 2001, not June, 2001.
This means that electricity consumed in June will be charged at the new rates. In some cases consumers may have to pay for electricity consumed more than one month ago. This is not acceptable. A consumer should know, without a doubt, when charges are increased so that he/she would be in a position to exercise caution in the use of electricity.
Some years ago, the Guyana Consumers Association made a successful appeal against an increase which meant that customers were not apprised in advance of the price that they would have to pay for electricity consumed and were not in a position to exercise conservation.
There are many complaints that can be made against GPL's system of billing. Too often the print is so light that customers have a difficulty in reading the bills. There is no statement of the period covered by the bill. For instance, under the column Billing Period, one sees simply "MAR 2001". The Fixed Charge is $194 but in some cases we see other sums stated, which indicates that the period fluctuates.
In the GEC system of billing we were given the exact date of the period covered. Under a column READ DATES we would see, for example, 10/21/98 and below that 9/21/98.
A serious complaint against the electricity company relates to its insistence that new customers in a building should pay the arrears that the company did not collect from the previous tenant. Consumers are advised to resist this and to complain to the Public Utilities Commission at the Public Buildings, Georgetown, whenever GPL makes this demand. It is illegal. Do not pay.
A second complaint relates to the recent requirement that cultural clubs and non-profit organisations should pay at the commercial rate and not at the residential rate. With these increases, no time should be wasted in reverting to the old system of billing these customers. Churches have been exempted from this requirement but other cultural groups and social clubs are still billed at the higher rate.
Finally, in order to reduce your consumption of electricity, do not leave the door of the refrigerator open for long periods unless defrosting. Keep containers of ice in the freezing
compartment if there is space for them. This helps to keep a low temperature during an outage. Ensure that the gasket around the door is in good shape. Use a bulb to fit the need. Suppliers must ensure a good supply of low wattage bulbs.