Guyana Power and Light cites rising demand for outages

Guyana Power and Light Inc. (GPL) has attributed recent power outages and voltage fluctuations to rising electricity demand and an overloaded national distribution network. Kesh Nandlall, Team Leader of GPL’s Executive Management Committee, stated that peak demand has increased from 221 megawatts last year to approximately 257 megawatts recently, with the highest usage occurring between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m.

The company reported that its customer base has grown from roughly 201,000 in 2020 to approximately 250,000 currently. This growth, combined with increased consumption by existing customers, is placing significant pressure on distribution feeders and transformers.

To address these challenges, GPL has increased its generation capacity by about 230 megawatts since 2020, bringing current availability to 265.6 megawatts. Regarding recent disruptions, officials noted that a fault on a main transformer at the Kingston Substation contributed to a major shutdown on Saturday night, while investigations continue into a disturbance that occurred on Monday morning.