(Kaieteur News) – The Guyana Power and Light Incorporated (GPL) is haemorrhaging skilled workers to the oil and gas sector at an accelerating rate, and the drain is taking a measurable toll on the company’s operational performance, according to the 2025 Public Utilities Commission (PUC) Annual Report.

The report reveals that GPL recorded system losses of 25.43 percent in 2025 — three percentage points above its target of 22.43 percent and a step back from the 24.71 percent recorded in 2024. The reversal is significant: after years of steady improvement from loss levels that once exceeded 30 percent, progress appears to have stalled.

GPL attributed the underperformance in part to the ongoing loss of trained personnel to the more lucrative oil and gas industry, as well as the diversion of its existing workforce toward a prepaid meter upgrade programme. The company also cited electricity theft, street lighting inefficiencies, metering inaccuracies, and network losses as contributing factors.