Thirty years ago, on the 1^st October 1990, the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) was established to form an independent body to regulate the telecommunications and electricity services and to protect the interests of consumers.

Today by virtue of the provisions under Act number 10 of 1999, PUC has the responsibility for the Telecommunications (Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company and Digicel); Electricity( Guyana Power and Light Inc)  and Water( Guyana Water Inc.) sectors in Guyana.

Our early achievements in the Telecoms Sector include the introduction of the principle of calling party pays which changed the principle of the receiving party being billed when accepting a call from a caller Pre-paid cards were also introduced for consumers’ convenience. Per minute billing was investigated under our watch which resulted in the change to per second billing.  In 2007, the Commission set the floor to ceiling rates for Cellular services which heralded the entrance of Digicel into the Guyana market.

We continue to monitor the standards and performance of the Electricity sector and the Commission’s work in the resolution of quality of service issues has been bolstered by full time in house technical reviews.

In 2018, in an effort to cushion consumers from rate shock, the PUC took a phased approach to the award of an increase of rates to the Water Sector by directing that Guyana Water Inc. to implement its new rates in two installments.

Through our mediation and collaboration with all Utilities we have successfully created avenues to reduce the bottlenecks which impeded the speedy resolution of complaints. We continue to partner with the respective utilities in their public relations efforts.

Since the year 1990, an impressive one hundred and fourteen (114) Orders covering all three sectors were issued by the Commission.  From 2005 to September 2020 we have received and serviced eight thousand three hundred and twenty-four (8,324) complaints.

Our advocacy on behalf of consumers has resulted in credits totaling the sum of two hundred and eighty one million five hundred and sixty thousand one hundred and fifty-four dollars ($281,560,154).

In this our 30^th year of existence our resolve remains strong with regard to expanding our reach to cover the length and breath  of Guyana beyond our existing locations in Georgetown, Berbice, Linden and Essequibo.

Our Virtual private network allowed for the seamless transition to work from home since the onset of the COVID -19 pandemic.

Our website pucguyana.com was revamped to allow for e- filing of complaints; a chatroom feature; links to our Facebook page Public Utilities Commission and other important features which  have aided in our public relations drive.

The paradigm shift to liberalization of the Telecoms Sector in Guyana will result in a different technological and competitive landscape which will in turn create a metamorphosis in PUC’s regulatory environment as we seek to meet all of our  challenges.

Our achievements would not be a reality without the steadfast dedication and commitment to excellence by our past and present Commissioners and the staff of the PUC.

As we celebrate this milestone, we are mindful that we are under a microscope, however, we wish to assure all our stakeholders that we are committed to retooling our operations and to maintain the regulatory hallmarks of transparency, clarity and professionalism at all times.