Residents of Happy Grove in St Andrew are ending the year on a lighter note. The community of approximately 100 homes has made the transition from not having regularised electricity to becoming legal Jamaica Public Service (JPS) customers. The rural community initially did not have the infrastructure to support safe and legal supply to the entire area, with only 10 per cent of residents enjoying legal supply.

Teams from JPS began to engage the community in 2017 through a series of meetings with a view to helping them to get safe, legal supply to their homes and businesses. The residents were very responsive, and the company completed the work for the infrastructure by installing transformers and assisting residents who were in the process of readying themselves for regularisation with completing their contracts to receive supply.

Following months of engagement and preparation, the community was gradually moved to 90 per cent regularisation, with the remaining 10 per cent now in the process of officially getting on the grid. The JPS team has been working with the residents, gifting the first set of new customers with helpful energy-efficiency tools, such as LED bulbs.

The JPS said it stands ready to work alongside its customers to find the right solution to meet their energy needs and continues to encourage all to regularise their supply and to avail themselves of information on how to manage their electricity usage efficiently. The company is reminding all persons who are not regularised to make contact with JPS via 1-888-CALLJPS or via its social media platforms @myjpsonline for more information on legalising their service.