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Efforts on the part of the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) were instrumental in awarding in excess of $4 million in rebates to consumers of utilities companies during the course of this year. In fact Chairman of the Commission, Justice Prem Persaud, in an interview with this publication related that over the period of about five years, more than $15 million was refunded to consumers.Tasked with regulating,Cheap NFL Jerseys China, investigating and enforcing measures to govern the operations of the local utility companies, including those responsible for electricity, water and telephone, the PUC often carries out its mandate based on complaints from consumers.  It is also charged with monitoring the activities of such entities.PUC Chairman, Justice Prem PersaudWith the Guyana Power and Light Inc.(GPL), Guyana Water Incorporated Inc. (GWI), Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T) and Digicel under its purview, the PUC has the power to initiate and conduct investigations into the operations and standards of service offered by these public utility companies.Similar to previous years, Justice Persaud revealed that the utility company which was required to pay the most refunds to customers following interventions was GPL.He disclosed that it was in recognition of the fact that GPL offers a very essential service to consumers, representation was made by the Commission to have the PUC Act amended. This move, according to Justice Persaud, allowed for timeframes to be outlined within which certain works must be done by the electricity company.“As soon as they breach the timeframe a penalty kicks in…They have to pay per day whenever they default…be it late reconnection or new installation…every time they fail to do what they are required to, a cost is imposed,” the PUC Chairman informed.Each time GPL delays in providing a service as detailed in the stipulation it is ordered to pay residential customers $1,000 per day, a cost which is doubled in the case of commercial services. With respect to GT&T, the PUC was able to forge an agreement which saw the telephone company submitting to an unfixed rule to reduce its rates in proportion to a fixed month, if it delays providing certain services to consumers within a prescribed three-day period.According to the PUC Chairman, GPL usually proves to be the most troublesome, while Digicel is viewed as the least trouble to consumers. “We have done a lot for consumers…some consumers were overbilled or the utility services defaulted in what they have to do with respect to the services they provide, but we were able to get a lot back for consumers,” Justice Persaud asserted.With less than three weeks remaining in 2012, the PUC has to date received a total of 513 complaints with 316 being attributed to GPL of which 250 have been resolved; 107 for GT&T of which 99 were resolved; 85 for GWI of which 76 have been resolved,  and five for Digicel, all of which were resolved. Most of the complaints were related to billing and there were instances of disconnection which warranted the intervention of the PUC. Last year a total of 504 complaints were recorded by the PUC.According to Justice Persaud, although the Commission is required to intervene on behalf of consumers it has become evident that the bills consumers prefer to pay are those related to the electricity and telephone services.At the moment GWI is seeking to have the PUC approve a tariff harmonisation plan which could see water rates being increased for some consumers and lowered for others. But according to Justice Persaud, “GWI is right now in a bad way; people are stealing (water), they prefer to pay for telephone and electricity and very few people are disconnected from those two services (electricity and telephone) but not the same for GWI…people prefer not to pay for water”.Nevertheless he admitted that it was a fairly successful year for the Commission which, in March, expanded its reach by opening a branch in Berbice. Justice Persaud informed that the Commission is currently mulling further expansion in Region Two and Region 10. In the interim, though, he noted that one of the hallmarks of the PUC that will be sustained in the coming year is its public education drive which is taken regularly to schools, market places and other public locations, with a view of highlighting the important role of the Commission.