Power was early Thursday afternoon restored to both Wismar and Mackenzie after technicians managed to temporarily bypass a computer failure that resulted in several hours of blackout since Wednesday night, officials said.

A Community Relations Officer said Wismar was repowered shortly after midday, about three hours after electricity was restored to Mackenzie. Initially only the Linden Hospital Complex and the BOSAI Minerals bauxite plant were re-energized.

The town, according to the official, might have to go without power again when the Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) card is acquired by tomorrow, hopefully from Gros Rosebel in neighbouring Suriname.

The computer interface with the generator had shut down before and the PLC card was replaced, but that one also malfunctioned after one hour of operation. Linden was plunged into darkness from 11 O’clock Wednesday night until late Thursday morning when power was gradually restored.

The Guyana Power and Light Inc. (GPL) does not supply power to the town. Government provides a subsidy that is paid to BOSAI which sells power to two companies that in turn supplies consumers.