GPL’s generating capacity exceeds demand but blackouts can occur due to unforeseen incidents – Ministry 

See full statement from the Ministry of Public Utilities and Aviation 

The Ministry of Public Utilities and Aviation engaged the Guyana Power and Light Inc. (GPL) following the two recent power outages that impacted service delivery in Demerara and Berbice on December 9 and December 10, 2025.

On Tuesday, December 9, at approximately 22:06 hrs, customers in Demerara and Berbice experienced an interruption in electricity supply following a heavy arching and short circuit at the 69kV Transformer at the Kingston Substation, where smoke was observed emanating from the transformer panel. A technical team was immediately dispatched to investigate the root cause of the disturbance, which was reported to be a damaged cable.

As a precautionary measure, the damaged cable was isolated to facilitate the safe restoration of power. Incremental restoration of electricity immediately began and continued until all affected areas were repowered at approximately 00:30 hrs on Wednesday, December 10.

Unfortunately, on Wednesday at approximately 11:19 hrs, the 69kV line linking Edinburgh and Vreed-en-Hoop Substations tripped while transmitting approximately 15 megawatts (MW) of power. The sudden loss of generation caused a cascading effect across the grid, resulting in service disruption to customers in Demerara and Berbice. Teams were instantly dispatched to determine the reason for the disruption. It was determined that the disruption was due to the movement of heavy machinery in close proximity to the transmission lines.

Within 30 minutes of this event, power was restored to some communities, with full restoration to all communities within approximately 90 minutes.

The Ministry of Public Utilities and Aviation continues to work with the Guyana Power and Light Inc. to maintain reliable supply of electricity.

GPL has sufficient baseload generation of over 250MW of reliable generating capacity to meet and far exceed the current demand of 210MW. However, there are instances where the disruption of services results from the operation of heavy-duty equipment including excavators, cranes, draglines, cement pump trucks in close proximity to the transmission lines, negatively impacting thousands of customers. Recently, we have seen an uptick of accidents where the reckless operation of trucks, cars and other motor vehicles resulted in the disruption of service to customers, when they come into contact with GPL’s network.

The Ministry, therefore, strongly urges all road users and equipment operators and contractors to be conscious of the dangers of operating near GPL infrastructure and the resultant loss of service to customers.

The Ministry of Public Utilities and Aviation, working alongside GPL, has commissioned in excess of 30 emergency teams throughout the country to address emergencies that may arise.