Vice President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo has assured that despite his administration’s move to procure additional power capacity to ease blackouts, no further costs will be passed on to consumers. He stressed that Guyanese will not find themselves paying more for better electricity supply.
Jagdeo was at the time speaking on the topic of the recent surge in blackouts during his customary weekly press convergence today. Noting what the government is doing to curb the blackouts, he referred to a recent rental agreement signed for a power ship to address local emergency power needs. Vice President Jagdeo reiterated that this rental will not result in higher electricity costs.
“There will be no increase in the price of electricity because of this rental,” he emphasized.
Yesterday, in a published statement the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) revealed that under the agreement signed with Urbacon Concessions Investments, W.L.L (UCI) GPL has paid a mobilization fee of US$1 million. The powership will incur a monthly charter fee of 6.62 cents per kilowatt-hour and a maintenance fee of 0.98 cents per kilowatt-hour based on electricity generated.
Operated and maintained by UCI, a subsidiary of UCC Holdings in Qatar, in collaboration with Karpowership International from Turkey, the 36-megawatt capacity powership aims to alleviate recent power outages.
Expected to operate at 96 percent availability, the powership will be stationed at Everton, Berbice, and connected to GPL’s grid at 69 kV. Due to this, GPL anticipates electricity delivery to commence by May 8, contingent upon weather conditions.
Furthermore, GPL has invested in additional infrastructure, including 17 generators and six step-up transformers. Fifteen generators have already been installed at the Columbia sub-station, contributing an extra 30 megawatts to the grid.
