Power company managers to develop operation enhancement strategies
by Gitanjali Singh
The five-year business plan of the Guyana Power and Light Inc comprises mobilisation, stabilisation and enhancement phases to turn that beleaguered operation around. The 14-man management team from Electricity Sector Board International (ESBI) has been given six to eight months from October 1, 1999 to study the state of the current operations and to develop strategies to stabilise and enhance its operations. ESBI and the Commonwealth Development Corporation, as a consortium, took over the running of the Guyana Electricity Corporation in October after acquiring 50 per cent of the entity. The new company, which has declined interviews, is to hold its first media briefing before the end of the month to reveal its immediate plans, according to Chief Executive, Noel Hatch. The managers are tasked with preparing a road map of where the company is headed, identifying GPL's objectives and setting out how these will be achieved. The Management Agreement signed by the CDC/ESBI, the government's joint-venture partner in GPL, said initial areas of concentration would be improved revenue collection; improved service to customers while a long-term electricity system plan is developed; efficiency improvements; and reviewing staff assignments as well as the impact of GPL's operation on the environment. "This is aimed at improving customer confidence, gaining support for the new company and ensuring a planned approach to managing income and expenditures," the management agreement said. The company is to work to ensure that accounts receivable are paid within 120 days in its first year of operation, within 90 days in its second year, 60 days in its third, 45 days in its fourth and 40 days in its fifth year. It is also to work to reduce commercial losses (estimated at 21 per cent of gross generation) including untracked accounts, theft and inaccurate meters to 20 per cent in year one, 16 per cent in year two, 12 per cent in year three and four per cent by year five. Technical line losses are to move from 14 per cent in year one to 12 per cent in year five. Within the first eight months, all major customer installations are to be inspected to verify that metering installations are correct and that the metering parameters are properly recorded in the billing system. A three-year programme is to be developed to inspect all metering installations and to correct irregularities. GPL will also undertake a thorough evaluation of the metering requirements and the meter reading, bill production and bill collection functions. The billing system is not year 2000 compliant and is to be replaced before year-end but this might be difficult. This may mean manual billing of larger customers and the provision of facilities for others to pay pending the issue of bills from the new system. The company aims to issue bills within 30 days of the meter reading date at the end of year two. As to power outages, GPL is to apply international electric utility (satisfaction) measurement to evaluate its performance by the end of year two. It is recognised that it will take a number of years before GPL reaches international standards in electricity provision. And while generation capacity is said to be broadly in line with current demand, load growth will require new capacity. Preliminary projections by the company are to install 27 megawatts of new generation in the first five years. According to the initial project, which is subject to change, the company plans to refurbish 12.5 megawatts in the interconnected system in year 2000, add 5.5 megawatts of new power generation capacity, and retire three megawatts of generation capacity. This will take the firm's capacity to 97.5 megawatts with the estimated peak demand rising to 75.2 megawatts. The generation capacity and demand projection schedule reflects a further ten megawatts in new capacity in year 2001 to be followed by eight megawatts being retired in 2003. In 2004, ten megawatts of generation are to be added followed by a further ten megawatts in 2006. (These projections were based on limited information and are subject to variations in load growth and the availability of financing for the projects). During its first eight months, GPL is also to prepare a ten-year generation system development plan with additional details on the first five-year plan. It is to develop revised maintenance work plans and initiate implementation of revised approaches. It is also to initiate work, in conjunction with external suppliers, to rehabilitate the 5.5 megawatts set at Canefield, a 5.5 megawatts set in Garden of Eden and the Nigata #5 in Garden of Eden. Additionally, GPL in this eight months, is also to re-examine the short-term options for providing additional capacity at Canefield and the short-term capacity needs of the isolated systems in Leguan, Wakenaam and Bartica. It is to also review the fire fighting capabilities in major stations as well as the management reporting systems. Assessments have to be done on the transmission and distribution systems and the management agreement said that the period 2000 to 2003 will concentrate on implementing the projects approved following both sets of reviews. Meanwhile, GPL is to conduct an environmental audit of its business within 12 months of its operation and the findings will determine the environmental practices, including employee awareness and training programmes. The company has identified improvement in the quality of service to customers as its key objective, through reliable billing and collection, effective response to queries and complaints and dealing with load growth and new customer connections. GPL is to also develop a street lighting development programme in its first six months of operation. It will need to consult with the Georgetown and other municipalities and the government on this programme and arrangements will have to be made for cost sharing, financing and rates. The intention is to bring street lighting in Guyana up to international standards, adapted for the Guyanese context.
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