Hope Pastures fight with JPS enters new round
Published:Wednesday | February 9, 2022 | 12:12 AMTanesha Mundle/Staff Reporter
Hope Pastures residents are seeking a mandatory injunction from the Supreme Court ordering the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) to restore and maintain the supply of underground electricity to the community and to remove its overhead supply.
Thirty-three of the 94 residents of the St Andrew community who had initially brought a claim against the utility company are also seeking approximately $19 million in special damages for costs incurred by them to either connect to the overhead supply or to provide alternative sources of electricity.
The trial, which started on Monday and is set to last for three weeks, was ordered by the Court of Appeal in 2020 after it had overruled a high court ruling that the power company could not be compelled to provide underground electricity at its own expense. It instead found that JPS was under a statutory obligation to supply electricity by underground cables to the residents once it is safe to do so.
The appellate court, in making that ruling, however indicated that a trial must be held to determine safety and whether changes should be made to the underground distribution system.
The residents had filed a lawsuit against JPS, claiming that in 1962, Parliament signed off on a system that mandated the utility company to provide electricity to their community through an underground system.
They claimed, too, that the cost of implementing such a system was included in the purchase price for their homes.
In the current trial, the residents are maintaining that the utility company has a statutory duty to furnish and maintain an underground system to provide electricity.
The residents are also claiming that JPS has caused each of them to suffer loss and damage as both the amenity and value of their properties have diminished because of what they deem an unsightly installation of concrete and wooden poles and transmission lines.
They are also contending that they have suffered financial losses because of the unlawful requirement to pay charges to JPS and electricians and/or to purchase generators and/or solar panels when the utility company reportedly failed and refused to reconnect their underground supply.
The residents claimed some of them were forced to connect to the overhead supply.
On the other hand, the JPS is maintaining its argument that the present underground system has outlived its useful life and that its obligation is to repair and maintain the underground system.
The company is maintaining, too, that the responsibility for replacing the system does not rest with it and that the residents should pay for the cost of the replacement if they want an underground system.
The JPS is also contending that the company was forced to provide some of the residents with the overhead supply as the underground system has become unsafe, unreliable, and has been malfunctioning.
So far, the trial has heard from the first of 25 residents who will be giving evidence.
Dr Jennifer Mamby-Alexander, one of the convenors of the Hope Pastures Citizens Group, in her testimony, claimed she has spent $5.1 million to provide electricity for her home using a generator and solar, which includes cost for installation, maintenance and batteries.
She further claimed she has not had electricity since October 2015 when JPS disconnected the light following an outage and has since failed to reconnect it unless she pays for overhead connection fees.
Mamby-Alexander will be cross-examined when the trial resumes today.
Attorney-at-law Patrick Foster, QC, is representing JPS, while attorneys-at-law Lord Anthony Gifford and Emily Shields are representing the claimants.