Linden is confronting an electricity crisis in which demand has more than doubled from approximately 6 megawatts around 2005 to 14–14.5 MW today, even as the town has endured years of economic stagnation and complaints of marginalisation under successive People’s Progressive Party (PPP) administrations.
For the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) Member of Parliament K. Sharma Solomon, the power crisis is the latest manifestation of a much deeper problem: government has encouraged economic and industrial growth without building the infrastructure needed to sustain it.
“There is a bigger story behind the electricity struggles now facing Linden and the people of Linden need to understand it,” Solomon said in a statement.
“This did not begin with the latest blackout. It did not begin with El Niño. Certainly, it did not begin with residents switching on more air conditioners because of the heat.”
Region 10 has long been regarded as a political stronghold of the opposition. Even PPP General Secretary Bharrat Jagdeo acknowledged during the 2025 election campaign that the PPP had “never won this region.”
For decades, Lindeners have complained that their political opposition to the PPP has been accompanied by economic marginalisation. In Parliament in 2013, opposition legislators described Linden as a “depressed community” and argued that the town had suffered marginalisation since 1992.
The economic grievance is rooted partly in Linden’s history as Guyana’s major bauxite-mining centre. As the bauxite industry declined and employment contracted, the town struggled to replace the economic activity that once sustained it.
Solomon, who was Region Ten Regional Chairman during the 2012 electricity protests, says the current crisis must therefore be viewed against the history of the community’s struggle for economic recognition.
From 6 MW to 14.5 MW
According to Solomon, Linden’s electricity consumption has moved from approximately 6 MW in 2005, when the Power Purchase Agreement was established, to about 12 MW in 2024 and 14–14.5 MW in 2026.
“The system has therefore moved from approximately 6 MW to more than 100% of that level. So, while Linden’s needs have expanded, the electricity infrastructure has not been expanded at the same pace. That is failure.”
He said the blame cannot simply be shifted onto residents because of the recent heat wave or increased use of air conditioning.
“Not the residents. Not the small businesses. Not the family that turns on an air conditioner because the temperature is unbearable. The failure is the absence of adequate forward planning as the Government adds more demands.”
The Government has itself acknowledged pressure on Linden’s electricity system. Public Utilities Minister Deodat Indar recently said Region Ten was the only region without excess generation capacity, with Bosai Minerals producing about 14.1 MW while demand had exceeded 15 MW. He also cited increased sawmill activity as a factor contributing to the pressure.
Government has announced measures to expand supply, including a planned 15 MW clean-energy injection into the Linden grid. It has also allocated approximately $4.8 billion in the 2026 Budget to support Linden’s electricity services and fuel costs.
But Solomon argues that these measures are coming after the demand has already outgrown the system.
A community that fought for its electricity
The electricity dispute is especially sensitive in Linden because electricity rates triggered one of the most serious confrontations between the community and central government in recent Guyanese history.
In 2012, Linden residents mounted weeks of protests against the PPP administration’s attempt to remove the electricity subsidy and raise tariffs. Three protesters were killed when police opened fire during demonstrations on July 18.
The confrontation culminated in the August 21, 2012 agreement between the Government and Region Ten. Solomon, then Regional Chairman, signed the agreement on behalf of the region.
Parliamentary records show that the agreement provided for, among other things, the preservation of the existing electricity tariff pending recommendations from a technical committee, the establishment of an economic committee to develop a regional economic plan, and a technical examination of electricity generation in Region Ten.
More than a decade later, Solomon argues that the community benefit won through that struggle is being placed under new pressure.
“A community benefit can not become an industrial subsidy.”
He wants major industrial consumers to have their electricity requirements reassessed and their classifications reviewed where their operations have expanded.
“If a company expands, its electricity requirements must be reassessed. If it exceeds its original certification, it must be recertified.”
Growth without infrastructure
Solomon says industrial activity around Linden has expanded dramatically, particularly in the sawmilling sector, while new businesses, construction projects and other developments have added to electricity demand.
He insists that he is not opposed to investment.
“We welcome investment. We welcome businesses. We welcome industries. We welcome jobs. We welcome capital, but investment requires infrastructure.”
“You can not have unofficial industrial development without industrial capacity.”
That argument strikes at a larger contradiction in Guyana’s development model: the Government is promoting rapid economic expansion fuelled by oil revenues while parts of the national infrastructure remain unable to reliably accommodate rising demand.
Gas-to-Energy: promise versus reality
Solomon also links Linden’s electricity problems to delays in the Government’s flagship Gas-to-Energy project, which is intended to provide 300 MW of generation capacity and reduce electricity costs.
The Government has repeatedly promoted the project as a transformational solution to Guyana’s electricity challenges. But delays have pushed full operation further into the future, leaving the country dependent on existing and temporary generation arrangements while demand continues to rise.
For Solomon, that amounts to crisis management rather than energy planning.
“You promise cheaper electricity. The project is delayed. You depend on temporary generation. The temporary generation becomes expensive and contractually uncertain. Demand continues to grow. The grid becomes strained and then you turn to citizens to blame them on conservation of electricity.”
“That is not an energy strategy. That is crisis management.”
The political fault line
The electricity dispute also cuts directly into the longstanding political divide between Linden and the PPP.
The PPP has repeatedly rejected claims that it deliberately marginalises Region Ten, pointing instead to billions of dollars in spending on roads, housing, education, agriculture and other projects. In 2025, PPP officials campaigned heavily in Linden, openly acknowledging the region’s longstanding opposition orientation while promising greater development.
But Solomon says the continuing electricity crisis demonstrates that the central issue is not simply how much money is announced or spent—it is whether government is planning adequately for Linden’s future.
He is calling for immediate additional generating capacity, a review of the Power Purchase Agreement, expansion of Linden’s generation infrastructure, proper classification of industrial consumers and a long-term electricity plan based on projected demand.
“The people of Linden have done their part. They fought for the electricity benefit. They built the community. They welcomed investment. They have supported development.”
“Now the government must do its part.”
His final warning is aimed squarely at the PPP administration:
“If you are going to grow on Linden’s system, you must help build Linden’s system.”
“Linden should not be asked to carry the cost of a national energy failure.”
For a town that once fought and bled over the right to affordable electricity, the latest crisis threatens to reopen an old political wound—this time against the backdrop of an oil-rich Guyana promising unprecedented national development.
“The people were warned. Now they are living it.”
