Electricity Sector in Guyana - History of The Electricity Sector

History of The Electricity Sector

Guyana Power & Light (GPL) was originally named the Guyana Electricity Corporation, wholly owned by the Government of Guyana. In late 1999, a 50/50 equity partnership was established between the Government of Guyana and a consortium comprising the Commonwealth Development Corporation (CDC) of the United Kingdom, and the Electricity Supply Board International (ESBI) of Ireland which created the new Company, GPL. This partnership was dissolved in 2003 and GPL reverted to 100 percent ownership by the Government of Guyana.

The failure of GPL to significantly cut back its technical and commercial losses has been deemed to be largely due to the lack of incentives for efficiency due to its ownership structure. Accordingly, its privatization was expected to generate commercial incentives to improve efficiency, while also enhancing private funding to develop the system. However the privatized venture failed to deliver the results expected and, after a few years returned to Government ownership. A future re-privatization of GPL is unlikely to occur before the regulatory and institutional framework of the sector is improved.