Blinking light bills! - … JPS customers lament high electricity rates, unsatisfactory explanations
Published:Sunday | March 8, 2020 | 12:00 AM
While the Jamaica Public Service (JPS) lobbies for reduced corporate income tax (CIT) rates from the Government, several of its customers are begging reprieve from what they deem exorbitant, unfair electricity bills.
Several customers are expressing dismay and bewilderment at their increasing light charges, adding to their woes of the escalating high cost of living.
“My light bill never used to pass $5,000. I work from 8 in the morning and sometimes I don’t reach home until after 10 in the night. It is me alone. So how come I am now getting light bill for $143,000?” one female customer fumed to The Sunday Gleaner.
“I don’t have any old fridge at my yard, my children are overseas and I barely have time to watch TV at nights. I use my laptop most times, but now, even that and my phone I am afraid to charge because of the light situation at my yard, right now.”
In a letter to The Gleaner last week, another frustrated customer said that his electricity bills continue to increase, in spite of his best conservation efforts.
“My January bill had a figure of $19,408.17 for a total usage of 462.35KWH. My February bill, which I just got, has a bill amount of $20,090 for a total usage of 402 kWh. How can it be that my consumption has gone down and my bill has gone up?” he queried.
“It is ludicrous and disheartening to try and conserve on your usage only to be faced with a much higher light bill. It’s little comfort to tell people that the fuel and IPP charges are different each month.”
SEPARATE ISSUES
Last week, JPS executives asked both customers to visit their offices for further assistance. The company explained to The Sunday Gleaner, however, that each customer had separate issues.
“If you look closely at the attached bill of one of the customers, you will note that that customer has balances brought forward of $111,319.71. This represents unpaid amounts that have built up over several months,” a JPS spokesperson noted.
“The account history also shows that the customer’s usage has been going up since last September. The current charges on the bill are for $32,073.39 for usage of 607.48 kWh (or average daily use of approximately 21kWh at a cost of about $1,106 per day).”
In relation to the second customer, the spokesperson explained that “bills in February were impacted by movements in foreign exchange rates as well as changes in fuel and IPP charge”.
The power supply company representative concluded, “The customer is correct. Even with reduced usage in February, the bill would have been higher, largely because of the devaluation of the Jamaican dollar over the period – a factor over which JPS has no control.”