By Antonio Dey | HGP Nightly News |
GEORGETOWN, GUYANA — Former Minister of Public Infrastructure David Patterson has sharply criticized the executive management of Guyana Power and Light Inc. (GPL), dismissing the utility company’s explanations for chronic blackouts as “flimsy excuses” and calling for a comprehensive structural overhaul of the state-owned power company.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with HGP Nightly News on Tuesday, Patterson questioned why citizens across the Demerara-Berbice Interconnected System (DBIS) continue to endure persistent and disruptive power outages despite the state injecting unprecedented financial resources into the electricity sector in 2026—including a GY$66.2 billion capital budget allocation dedicated to upgrading the national transmission and distribution grid, alongside a GY$25 billion operational fuel subsidy to shield consumers from rising oil prices.
Uncontrolled Commercial Zoning vs. Consumer Blame
Patterson’s rebuke follows Monday’s technical briefing hosted by GPL Executive Director Kesh Nandlall and Deputy CEO for Strategic Operations Bharat Harjohn, who attributed grid instability to soaring heat, peak evening air-conditioning demand between 7:00 PM and 9:00 PM, and customers adding heavy commercial electrical capacity without notifying the company.
Patterson rejected management’s framing, arguing that the administration is deflecting responsibility onto the very citizens and businesses it failed to regulate:
- Absence of Zoning Enforcement: The former minister pointed out that the government permits heavy commercial enterprises, manufacturing workshops, and retail operations to open freely in established residential areas without enforcing urban zoning laws, and then blames those consumers when residential transformers overload.
- Secondary Line Neglect: Communities across Georgetown—such as South Ruimveldt—continue to rely on decades-old, dilapidated secondary transmission lines that have received minimal modernization despite multibillion-dollar budget approvals.
- Capital Misdirection: Patterson claimed that massive contracts are being funneled into speculative projects designed to off-take future generation rather than reinforcing the fragile, day-to-day distribution network that serves households.
“You are allowing businesses to open in residential areas without any zoning laws, and then you complain that the people who you empowered are the cause of the issue,” Patterson argued. “It goes back to the basics: you have to invest in upgrading our facilities, and these mega-contracts that they are awarding are not doing that. It is just simply to off-take the new power whenever that dream becomes reality.”
25% Line Losses and Stalled Capital Contracts
Highlighting persistent technical inefficiencies, the former infrastructure minister emphasized that GPL’s line losses continue to drain massive amounts of generated energy before electricity ever reaches consumers:
- Massive Technical & Commercial Losses: Patterson noted that GPL continues to lose roughly 25 percent of the total power it generates, with approximately half of that loss directly caused by inefficiencies and resistance in aging transmission and distribution lines.
- Stalled Capital Contracts: Several multi-million-dollar upgrade contracts awarded as far back as 2022 have experienced chronic execution delays, failing to produce tangible grid stability.
- Call for Management Overhaul: Insisting that management has not hit a single incremental performance metric, Patterson urged the government to reassess GPL’s entire project portfolio and hold leadership accountable for poor execution.
“GPL continues to lose 25 percent of the energy—of the power that they generate—and half of it is lost by that same transmission and distribution network,” Patterson asserted. “You continue to get a lot of money and you are not doing anything. Some of these contracts have been signed since 2022… It is time to do a reassessment of your entire portfolio. We have not seen a single incremental increase; not a single target has been hit by them, and blackouts are increasing.”
