The Guyana Power and Light Inc. is aiming to make more efficient its system to provide customers with new meters. In this regard the company has announced that customers will be able to apply online. This, GPL’s Divisional Director of Commercial Services, Rhonda La Fargue, said will allow for smoother processing when customers visit the office to complete their metering transactions.
“We are moving for the fulfilment of applications within 12 days, that is for residential customers where no capital works are required and we are working on seeing how we can best reduce this time because I know this is one of the concerns of customers, after the application is done the time it takes to have the installation of the meter,” La Fargue said.
She however noted that the major constraint in this regard is the unavailability of the preferred pre-paid meter type. To address this, steps have been taken to streamline the procurement process so that there is a steady flow of the meters available for installation.
Meanwhile, the power company is also moving towards improving its emergency response time and is aiming to increase its complement of response teams in critical zones such as the East Coast of Demerara (ECD) and Georgetown. These have been included in the key objectives of the power company as it aims to improve customer support mechanisms.
At a stakeholders meeting held at the Herdmanston Lodge, La Fargue, said “as it relates to the responsiveness, we are working on increasing our teams and we have also reduced our response times.”
Ordinarily, upon calling to make an emergency report, one would be advised that a team will be out within 24 hours to address the emergency. With these new measures being implemented, GPL guarantees that a team will be responding to emergencies within 12 hours of the call being made.
La Fargue further explained, “if it’s a minor emergency they can fix it, if its major it may take a little longer but you should have some action within 12 hours and we’re working as much as possible as soon as we get reports to see how soon we can actually have the crews at your location to have your problem resolved.”
