The Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) says higher light bills are being driven by increased electricity usage.
In recent days there have been mounting complaints from people, some reporting huge hikes in their light bills.
In a statement Tuesday, the JPS said there are instances where residential customers have increased their electricity consumption by up to 50 per cent.
It said this is “very likely” because many customers are spending more time at home.
According to the JPS, despite an overall drop of 2.5 per cent in electricity usage for the month of March, since the start of the COVID19 outbreak residential consumption has gone up by about 3 per cent.
"In several instances, persons who would have been out of the home, working for at least eight hours, are now working at home, alongside children who are being home-schooled, due to safety measures introduced to limit the spread of COVID-19," said a JPS spokesperson in the statement.
The JPS wants customers to efficiently use energy and to pay attention to the usage chart on their bills, which tracks their consumption trend each month.
"Customers who used the same number of kilowatt hours in the present bill, as the previous one, will notice that their current bill has remained relatively level," said the JPS spokesperson.
In the meantime, the JPS has sought to explain the impact of lower world oil prices on light bills.
It said, up to a few years ago, Jamaica was more than 90 per cent dependent on oil which meant customers’ bills were impacted by the volatility of oil prices.
However, it said since then, both the JPS and the Government have sought to diversify Jamaica’s fuel mix to protect customers and promote energy security.
"Today, the fuel mix is approximately one-third oil and two-thirds Liquefied Natural Gas, with a small percentage in renewable," said the JPS spokesperson adding that at present LNG prices remain constant and higher than oil.
As a result, it said the fall in oil prices will not register significantly on bills.
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