GEORGETOWN, GUYANA — August 1, 2025
Vice President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo has issued a public apology for the recent wave of power outages affecting communities across the country, attributing the disruptions to major infrastructure upgrades—particularly road expansion projects that require the relocation of utility poles.
Speaking at a press conference at Freedom House on Thursday, Jagdeo acknowledged the mounting frustration among residents, especially those on the East Coast of Demerara, where two prolonged outages last week—one lasting eight hours and another 12—left entire communities in the dark.
“We’ve had a spate of blackouts, and I want to apologize again to people for this,” he said. “It’s not that we don’t have enough power. The issue is that we’re forced to shut off sections of the grid temporarily to move utility poles, and it’s causing serious disruption.”
The Vice President explained that construction of the new four-lane highway between the Ogle roundabout and Sheriff Street has triggered multiple outages, including an additional eight-hour blackout on Wednesday due to technical challenges during pole relocation.
He also cited similar disruptions along Woolford Avenue, where widening works necessitated power cuts.
“I want to urge the people who have been affected to bear with us a bit. It’s not like we have a choice—we need the roads, but we also need the power in the system,” he said.
Jagdeo emphasized that despite the blackouts, Guyana is not experiencing a shortage of electricity. He pointed out that with the help of two Turkish powerships and local plants, the country’s grid has a total capacity of 96 megawatts—enough to meet current demand. The issue, he insisted, lies in the logistics of modernizing outdated infrastructure.
On Thursday, a separate outage affecting the entire Demerara-Berbice Interconnected System (DBIS) was caused by an explosion at the Kingston power plant. The incident reignited public concerns over the reliability of the national grid.
Jagdeo, however, assured that the government is investing heavily in long-term energy stability. He cited the US$422 million project to upgrade GPL’s transmission network—an overhaul that will extend to Parika, Berbice, and Linden. This effort, he said, includes replacing vulnerable wooden poles with concrete towers that are expected to last for decades.
“We’re trying to fix this system in a way that will last for the next 50 years,” he said. “But that means we have to undo how the system was built out in the past—and that comes with disruption.”
Jagdeo also pointed to the ongoing gas-to-energy project as a major part of the solution. Once completed, the system will move transmission lines onto new high towers, reducing the need for outages during upgrades.
The government’s two agreements with the Turkish energy provider currently supply electricity at rates of US$0.206 and US$0.225 per kilowatt-hour, helping to maintain generation while the grid is restructured.
“I hope the public understands that what we’re dealing with now—these blackouts and interruptions—they are part of a transition. But when it’s over, we’ll have a stronger, more reliable system in place,” the Vice President said.
