| The Guyana Power and Light Inc. (GPL) is looking to take a highly technological approach to address the persistent challenge of electricity theft, according to Chief Executive Officer, Bharrat Dindyal during an interview with this publication.This move comes in light of the fact that a whopping 5,000 cases of electricity theft were detected by the company during the past year. However, the GPL boss is convinced that there is a significant amount of theft that is still undetected.“We think this is just the tip of the iceberg. We think there are a lot more and we think quite a bit of shenanigans are going on between persons who are part of our crews…” Dindyal speculated.He disclosed that the Loss Reduction Department of GPL has over the years seen the highest turnover in the company which is linked to incoming reports of how the efforts were made to hurt the company and “we are taking action,” added the CEO.However, he observed that the incidence of theft among new consumers has reduced with the advent of the prepaid meter, but generally there still remains a problem in this regard. This is despite the fact that the platform on which “we are running the prepaid meter there are quite a few more things we can do in terms of tracking…”GPL Chief Executive Officer, Bharrat Dindyal“There are many ways we can keep an eye on you by using the prepaid platform and that is why I think people are trying to hack into that system,” disclosed Dindyal. However, he noted that that system is highly secured as there are currently only two senior officials who have ultimate access and “could do things to hurt us, and they are very senior people.”But in an attempt to further reduce the instances of electricity theft, the CEO disclosed plans for the launch of a pilot programme financed by the Inter-American Development Bank. This proposed programme, he said, is expected to target areas with high electricity theft and will be characterised by the introduction of new designs to curb such practices. “This will not only look at the network design using a more secure network sometimes called a fraud-proof network, but we are looking at introducing the latest in metering technology, something called an Automatic Metering Infrastructure, which is more advanced than the prepaid that we are using,” Dindyal explained.“The experience, internationally, no matter which country you are in, is that pleading with people doesn’t work. They think you can’t do anything different when you plead and jailing them makes them your enemy. So you have to introduce technology in a coordinated manner that allows you to get the intelligence to act on,” he added.Once the Automatic Metering Infrastructure is installed it will be connected to the GPL’s Billing Department via wireless control. This technology, according to Dindyal, would allow GPL officials to literally speak to the meter whenever the need arises.“So what happens is that there is a platform there with a server that is running and that is tracking the meter all the time,” he expounded.He noted too that the transformer that is serving the area will be metered as well as the customers connected to that transformer will be metered and its software will be tasked with looking at the amount of power that is going in while simultaneously recording how much is actually going to each customer. Moreover, the system would be able to develop intelligence on each customer, thus it would be able to flag a particular customer when something is happening, hence an alert will be sent to GPL to check on this customer.“In future we are looking to introduce this in a big way. We are hoping we can go to this technology totally, so that when we come to your house we know exactly why we are coming there,” Dindyal asserted.In fact,New Jersey Devils Gear, through this system customers would even be able to read their own meter information which can be corroborated by GPL.“When you come to us and you say ‘sorry my bill is not reflective of the meter reading’ we will be able to show you the meter reading,” the CEO insisted.He anticipates that the pilot programme for this new technology could be in place as early as next year with some components being in place by the latter part of this year. However, he is confident that in 2013 “we will have these new meters installed and people will be surprised that we can sit in the office and run comprehensive tests on their meters”.With this newest technology being viewed as the solution to electricity theft, Dindyal is hopeful that it will allow GPL officials to check the customers’ meters from the office. The system, according to him, will also guard against collaboration between technical officials and customers to tamper with the system. The meter, he explained, is outfitted with a motion sensor which could announce “‘somebody is playing with me’.”Additionally, if attempts are made to jump the meter there is a circuit breaker within and “we could test the meter and if we say there is power it could say ‘my breaker is open’. So as the system runs, if you are an old customer we have a lot of historical information which will load unto the system and the system records the historic consumption.”According to Dindyal, as soon as the system is connected to power it would instantly be able to relate historic trends and all the intelligence is fed into it, thereby allowing it to commence referencing customers’ information.“If you are out of whack then we will flag you.” |
