APNU parliamentary question on powership negotiations triggers govt response

Last Updated on Thursday, 4 June 2026, 21:35 by Writer

About two hours after the parliamentary opposition A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) filed an oral question without notice about the status of negotiations for continued electricity supply from two Turkish powerships, the government finally broke its almost one week long silence on the subject.

Minister of Public Utilities Deodat Indar said in a statement on Facebook in response to “much commentary on the renewal of the contract” that talks were continuing to buy the electricity at the lowest cost possible.

“I would like to assure the public that the Government of Guyana is working in the best interests of the people of Guyana to get the best possible commercial rate for the renewal of the contract,” he said.

Prior to Thursday’s statement, Mr Indar, President Irfaan Ali, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo and Minister of Finance Ashni Singh declined to comment on the issue even after Karpowership warned of “interruption” after the latest grace period had expired on June 1.

While reassuring the population that no power outage was occurring due to a lack of power generation, the minister suggested that no more information would be provided until the deal is closed between the Guyana Power and Light Inc. and UCC JV with Karpowership.

“We continue to be in the negotiation process, while the powership maintains an uninterrupted supply of electricity to the national grid.

The public will be apprised at the appropriate time on the completion of the contractual negotiations between the Guyana Power and Light Inc. and UCC JV with Karpowership,” he said.

Earlier on Thursday at about 11:15 a.m., APNU parliamentarian Ganesh Mahipaul dispatched a letter and his accompanying oral question without notice to the Speaker of the National Assembly, Manzoor Nadir, requesting that the question be posed to the minister.

He wants the minister to say, among other things, whether the operators of the powerships have demanded additional payments beyond the existing contractual terms and, if so, the amount being sought and the basis for such demands.

Mr Mahipaul also wants to know whether the government has assessed the consequences for the national grid should either or both powerships cease operations before the Gas-to-Energy Project becomes operational, and measures being taken to ensure that Guyanese consumers and businesses are not subjected to renewed blackouts and load shedding arising from any interruption in the powership arrangements.

One of the powerships is stationed on the Demerara River at Meadowbank, Greater Georgetown and the other at Everton on the Berbice River.

Karpowership’s earlier threat to shut down power if no agreement was reached comes as Guyanese continue to await first power from the 300 megawatt Wales gas-to-energy plant which has already missed several stated completion deadlines.

Without the powerships, Guyana Power and Light does not have sufficient generating capacity on its own to satisfy a peak demand of just over 200 megawatts.