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Controversy erupted over the implementation of the new Guyana Power and Light Inc. (GPL) pre-paid meter system yesterday, with residents protesting what they deemed the arbitrary installation of the devices, without adequate explanation of how they will operate.Yesterday, several residents of Festival City bearing placards called for the removal of the pre-paid meters from their homes, since they claimed it was a means of increasing their normal amount of payment for electricity.However, Public Relations Officer of the GPL, Denise Anderson, said that the actions of the residents are premature, since they should allow the system to work for a while before rushing to judgment.She said that like with any new system there are bound to be some teething problems and whatever complaints occur will be addressed.On Sunday, the power company installed eight of the pre-paid meters in homes of customers in the Festival City area as part of a pilot project to guide the subsequent introduction of the new system.The residents claimed that they were taken by surprise when a crew from the power company turned up at their home and proceeded to remove their old meters and began installing the new ones.“I never ask for nothing. I come and meet de people in me yard they say they want to put de thing in deh. Then they start to demonstrate but I could not understand. My husband came in shortly and they showed him how to punch in the information,” one resident told this newspaper.Residents with their placards protesting the implementation of the GPL pre-paid meter.The customers who received the new system indicated that they were given credit ranging from $500 to $1000.But by Monday most of the credit had expired, although they had disconnected some of their appliances, and they were left without electricity since then.This newspaper understands that GPL provides electricity at about $50 per kilowatt.“The credit ain’t done yet, but I had to take off all my things (appliances),” the resident added.The residents claimed that they complained to GPL about the problems they are encountering and the company promised to send a technical team to deal with them.However, when the team arrived and saw the protesters they drove away without stopping.“We are poor people in this area. Wha gon happen to we TV, we microwave, we fridge if this thing tekkin so much money. We do not want it,” another resident lamented.They claimed that the confusion is being caused by the lack of proper consultation with them by the power company.But according to resident, Lawrence Chance, sometime back the company had indicated that it would be implementing the pre-paid meter system in the area.He said that he normally uses about $8000 in electricity per month and judging from what transpired over the weekend since the new system was installed, it would appear that his payment will be doubled.According to Chance, the technicians from the power company inserted about $500 credit worth of electricity into his meter at about 13:00 hours on Sunday and before dayclean the next day it was finished.“I had to take off all the appliances. Then they came back the following day (Monday) and put in $1500 and that is what I am working with now but I had to take off all the main appliances because it ain’t gon last.If you work this thing out you gon see it is $500 a day,” Chance told this newspaper.He said that he is not against the new system once his present cost of electricity consumption is comparable with the old one.Another resident said that when she complained that the credit in her system was diminishing too quickly, she was accused by the technicians of giving her neighbours current.“How de hell I gone give me neighbour light and they got meter? I look like I retarded?” the resident pointed out.The resident said that to compound matters, her credit kept dwindling despite the fact that there was a power cut in the area.Eighty-three year-old Elaine King lamented that she was not at home when the GPL technicians arrived at her home and took away her meter.“We pay for that meter, man, they should ask if you want it. They can’t push something down yuh throat,” King stated.Yesterday some of the placards read ‘Pre-paid meter must go out of Festival City’; ‘No money, no credit, no light, GPL must go’; ‘This is murder in Festival City’ and ‘Stop pre-paid meter now’.But the GPL Public Relations Officer, Denise Anderson, who arrived on the scene to clear the air on the confusion, told the media that an announcement was made that the whole of Guyana will be going pre-paid.“Pre-paid is where we’re going for the future in terms of GPL’s expansion and development programme,” Anderson said, adding that the pre-paid meter system is not optional.She explained that the Festival City area is one of several areas that were selected to be part of the pilot programme for the new system.The other areas are Blackbush Polder, Bourda Market and Kitty.She pointed out that the power company did conduct sensitization exercises in the identified communities and several meetings were held with residents.Some of the resident even admitted that representatives from the power company had met with them a week prior to the installation of the new meters.She acknowledged that the GPL did receive some calls and a decision was taken to meet with the residents to iron out the kinks.“The technical team made an attempt to come here, but when they got here to meet with the people they weren’t able to do anything, the people were already protesting. It’s new technology and there might be technical glitches,” Anderson explained.She pointed out that under the new system customers will be able to regulate the use of their electricity and will no longer have to rely on the power company estimating their bills.In some cases, she noted, customers will be able to reduce their present electricity bill.It was acknowledged that there might have been a communication problem, but according to Anderson, this could easily be rectified.