Power relief
JPS promises discounts to charged up customers amid Beryl disruptions, boiling frustration
Published:Wednesday | July 24, 2024 | 12:10 AMCarl Gilchrist/Gleaner Writer
The Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) has sought to temper frustrations over prolonged service disruptions with a hurricane relief programme to slash the bills of hundreds of thousands of residential customers as of August.
The company made the announcement on Tuesday, shortly after Energy Minister Daryl Vaz made a statement in Parliament reiterating his criticism of the slow pace at which restoration in the wake of Hurricane Beryl, which struck early in July, has been taking place.
Speaking in Parliament yesterday, Vaz said he had “major issues” with the company’s management in relation to where the recovery effort is, three weeks after the Category 4 hurricane battered sections of Jamaica on July 3.
In response, the JPS board of directors said it was launching its Hurricane Beryl Relief Programme, which would see approximately 350,000 JPS residential customers receiving discounts on their bills.
According to the JPS, customers using 150kWh of electricity or less for the month will get a 20 per cent discount which will be applied to current charges and reflected on bills they will start receiving in August. Active prepaid residential customers will get a one-off $1,500 top-up electricity credit on their accounts.
In his statement, Vaz said the issues of concern include JPS missing its original estimate given to Cabinet for restoration; the light and power company’s missed deadlines, published for parish-by-parish restoration; and checks which have revealed that areas the JPS had indicated were restored have, in fact, not fully been restored.
“Based on the missed deadlines, the projected date for full restoration keeps moving further and further away,” Vaz complained.
MEETING WITH SERVICE PROVIDERS
The minister noted that he has met with the JPS and telecommunications providers FLOW and Digicel in order to fast-track restoration of services.
Vaz said that, at his last meeting with the JPS management on Saturday, he was not satisfied with the answers to many questions he asked, nor that the JPS truly understood the pain and suffering being endured by its customers.
Since then, he said he has contacted the Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR), requested its intervention, and met with the JPS board of directors on Monday.
His statement to Parliament, he said, was to ensure the concerns were recorded in Hansard and that the current state of restoration was communicated to all members of the House of Representatives and their constituents
According to Vaz, 19,000 JPS customers were still without electricity supply, not including those in St Elizabeth, the parish worst affected by the hurricane.
Within a 24-hour period, almost 400 JPS customers indicated that their respective communities remained unaccounted for on the work schedule published by the light and power company.
“Madam Speaker, this is unacceptable,” Vaz told the House. “JPS, what about the parishes that were least affected and have still not been restored? To be without power and feeling left out will lead to despair and frustration. I have shared the data with JPS, and I am demanding that every community unrepresented or unaccounted for be added and that communication be made to these customers using whatever methods the JPS has at its disposal.”
The frustration boiled over on Monday when residents in sections of St Mary, including Junction, Grande Hole Bridge and Broadgate, mounted roadblocks extending over a 10-mile stretch, protesting the absence of electricity since the passage of Hurricane Beryl. In several other areas of the island, residents continue to complain about the absence of electricity and, to a lesser extent, connectivity issues, since the storm.
REMINDER TO JPS
Vaz issued a reminder that the JPS licence comes up for renegotiation in 2027 and “we must make sure as a country that any new licence protects the people and not just JPS”.
He added: “If I need to be on the road every week, with a schedule in hand to ensure conformity, Madam Speaker, then that is what will be done. If the JPS cannot hold themselves to the schedules that they set, then, I – Daryl will.”
On the issue of estimated JPS bills that the company has informed customers to expect this month, Vaz said Jamaica should never be put in this position again, “where a utility licence granted seemingly protects the provider more than the customers”.
He said the JPS has written to invoke ‘force majeure’ and obtain relief from its obligations under the current licence but had yet to outline any form of restitution or reprieve for its customers who have been disrupted for more than three weeks.
In its response shortly after Vaz’s comments, the JPS said that, following the far-reaching impact of the recent hurricane on its operations, and by extension, its customers, the board of director had opted to institute the hurricane relief programme.
Damian Obiglio, JPS chairman and acting president and CEO, expressed regret over the issuing of estimated bills, explaining that the company had very little choice but to do so.
According to Obiglio: “The fact is, JPS is mandated to issue bills to its customers for 30-day periods. We used the standard methodology established by the OUR to calculate estimated bills.
“In light of the likely impact on our customers, JPS has subsequently submitted a proposal to the Office of Utilities Regulation requesting a review of the mechanism for calculating estimated bills, specifically for customers impacted by extended outages as a result of Hurricane Beryl. The objective is to minimise the impact on persons who could end up being worst off as a result of being estimated using the regulatory prescribed methodology.”
The company said that, in recognising the far-reaching impact of Hurricane Beryl, it would relax collection and disconnection processes.
The JPS said more than 200 families in the communities of Flagaman, Bull Savannah, Malvern and Parottee in St Elizabeth, have already benefited from care packages from the JPS Foundation and JPS Volunteers On Location To Serve (VOLTS). Support, the light and power company added, will also be given to the elderly and disabled, as well as back-to-school assistance for persons in some communities.
The company said JPS team members have also been visiting communities to speak with residents about the restoration process while hearing from them what their needs are at this time. The parishes visited include St Mary, Clarendon, Manchester, and St Elizabeth, with Hanover, Westmoreland and sections of St Elizabeth scheduled for this week.