This was announced in a joint statement issued through the Office of the Prime Minister yesterday.

It said: "The Government of Guyana and AC Power, after having made every effort to arrive at an equitable arrangement for the restructuring of Guyana Power and Light Inc. (GPL), have been unable to reach an agreement which would be satisfactory to both parties.

"The Government and AC Power are in discussion with regard to concluding an orderly and smooth transfer of GPL to a new ownership and management arrangement."

Meanwhile, the two shareholders have required GPL to continue operations to supply electricity to the maximum level possible within the currently available resources of the company, the statement concluded.

Prime Minister Sam Hinds last night indicated that the Government is pursuing investment initiatives from both local and foreign investors and has already invited the private sector to participate in the new arrangement.

Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr. Roger Luncheon at his weekly news conference Wednesday, said the Government has committed itself to ensure the survival of the firm and a reliable supply of power to consumers and the Office of the President is assuring Guyanese that it is doing all that is possible to recover the situation.

As regards the adoption of "walking away for a dollar" option by AC Power, he said it has to be viewed in the context that they have made it clear that they are unwilling to remain a party under the current state of GPL.

He added that the Government has taken cognisance of the worse case scenario and is working towards finding suitable alternative arrangements.

The engagements between the representatives of the Government and AC Power were aimed at the implementation of mutually acceptable interventions to restore the resolve of the partners to continue the GPL operations, Luncheon explained.

He added that the Government was working assiduously to realise the latter objective, but also had to be prepared for any eventuality.

A team from AC Power, which represents the Commonwealth Development Corporation (CDC), had been holding discussions with the Government on the current agreement in the electricity sector with the intention of resolving the issues affecting the provision of a reliable supply electricity at a reasonable cost.

Cabinet took the position that an extremely comprehensive approach is needed to resolve the multitude of problems confronting the company and to provide a solution that would see the company return to provision of power to consumers and adherence to the agreements that were concluded and are currently under discussion, he said.

Electricity bills were set to be higher from February 1, but the move by the power company came under heavy fire by businessmen and from other sections of society and the matter eventually ended up in court which has put the proposed increases on hold.