JPS programme to upgrade communities targets Grants Pen

Residents of Grants Pen in St Andrew are to benefit from major Jamaica Public Service (JPS) infrastructure upgrades which will see them being able to access the facility legally, and with improved service.

Over 700 existing customers from the community were recently transferred to its newly installed Residential Advanced Metering Infrastructure (RAMI) system.

A release from the company notes that the electrical infrastructure development work in Grants Pen started in March last year, under the JPS Community Renewal programme, with the aim to provide safer and more reliable electricity supply to the community. The objective is to encourage regularisation by bringing more people onto the grid legally. In addition to the infrastructure improvements, JPS has been engaging residents and facilitating the sign-up of new customers.

“It’s very important to JPS that users of electricity are safe and have access to reliable supply. The upgrade of our infrastructure in Grants Pen will help us to achieve these targets, while increasing the number of legal customers on the grid,” said Rasheed Anderson, director of Revenue Security at JPS.

The company notes that the JPS is investing over J$56m in its capital infrastructure in the community, improving its systems while adding to the legal paying customer pool. The recent cutover to the new system is also tackling the 61 per cent theft level in Grants Pen. With the new system, existing illegal connections were removed and the ability to illegally connect to the network has been severely limited.

Similar upgrade work is being carried out in Barrett Hall, Tower Hill, August Town Phase 2 and Granville.

The JPS Community Renewal Programme, which was established in 2014, has been successful in converting thousands of households to legitimate electricity usage in communities in Kingston, St. Andrew, St Catherine and St James.