JPS reports 20% decrease in estimated bills, targets further reduction in 2021
Published:Tuesday | January 19, 2021 | 1:51 PM
The Jamaica Public Service (JPS) is reporting a significant improvement in its Guaranteed Standards performance with a 20 per cent reduction in the number of estimated bills over the period January to December 2020.
JPS says that less than five percent of their customers are estimated on a monthly basis.
According to the Company, from a customer base of over 680,000 customers, only about 29,000 customers are now receiving estimates, down from 37,000 a year ago.
JPS says it is taking steps to further reduce estimates in 2021.
"The fall in estimated bills is due to a number of initiatives including the continued installation of smart meters, more direct communication with customers to facilitate ease of access to meters, and heightened account monitoring," a statement from the company read.
It continued: "The initiatives to reduce estimates are designed to directly address the challenges faced by the Company in reading some customers’ meters. These include: meters being inaccessible, impassable terrain, the presence of bad dogs, locked gates and a number of other factors. In such situations, the account is estimated using the average of the last three actual readings. The account is updated once actual data is received."
Ramsay McDonald, senior vice president of Customer Services said that the reduction in estimated bills is part of JPS’ efforts to significantly improve the customer experience.
"The improvement in our performance on the service standards is just one area of focus. The use of technology has contributed greatly to the progress we are making, and will play a big part in the initiatives that we plan to roll out in 2021. We anticipate that our performance in 2021 will be even better than last year, as we respond more directly to the needs of our customers.”
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