$2-million fine if JPS misses deadline
Vaz doubtful power company will meet OUR’s August 12 ultimatum for 100 per cent restoration to customers impacted by Hurricane Beryl
Published:Saturday | August 3, 2024 | 4:51 AMKimone Francis/Senior Staff Reporter
With more than 20,000 customers still without electricity following the passage of Hurricane Beryl a month ago, the Jamaica Public Service (JPS) is facing a $2-million fine if it fails to meet the 100 per cent restoration target set by August 12.
In a terse response to yesterday’s directive from the Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR), its regulatory body, the power company said it had set itself that deadline and has been working towards it.
“We are employing our best measures to ensure that we meet the timeline we set,” the company said in an emailed response to The Gleaner following the OUR instruction.
In a statement on Friday, the OUR said given that JPS has missed previously established timelines, its directive, which took effect on July 31, requires that the company complies with the latest restoration dates it has given.
It said failure to comply with this directive within the time specified will render JPS liable to enforcement action pursuant to section 9 of the Office of Utilities Regulation Act.
Section 9 (1) of the act says where it appears to the OUR that a licensee or organisation is not fulfilling its obligations under its licence or enabling instrument, the OUR may, by memorandum in writing to the licensee or organisation, require the licensee or organisation, within the time specified in that memorandum, to take such remedial measures as may be so specified.
Any licensee or organisation, according to section 9(2), which fails to comply with the requirements of the memorandum is guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction before a resident magistrate to a fine not exceeding $2 million.
On conviction, the court may fix a reasonable period from the date of conviction for compliance by the licensee or organisation with the requirements of the memorandum. If the court is satisfied that the party has duly complied within the set period, the fine is not payable.
The OUR has directed that JPS repair its damaged network infrastructure and achieve 100 per cent restoration of electricity to consumers throughout the island, subject to the inaccessibility issues faced in the areas specified as exception, by August 12.
“We have conveyed to JPS in all our engagements that we expect that it will exercise all diligence to expedite restoration. At our last meeting with JPS on Monday, it assured us that all service would be fully restored by August 12 in the most critically damaged areas,” OUR Director-General Ansord Hewitt said.
“The OUR is satisfied that, at this point, enough time has elapsed for JPS to have fully grasped the extent and nature of the damage and disruption to its network, the available resources, and the practicable timeline for restoration. We therefore expect that these are achievable targets.”
‘SEEING IS BELIEVING’
But Energy Minister Daryl Vaz has poured cold water on any expectation that the power company will meet the deadline, pointing to several missed deadlines.
“My position remains the same. JPS has missed all the deadlines they have given to me as minister and to Cabinet, to the Government. I don’t see anything that they have done in terms of increasing their resources, human and otherwise, to be able to meet the targets that they have now indicated,” Vaz said of the OUR’s directive.
“I am hoping and praying for the sake of the suffering customers but again, seeing is believing,” the minister told The Gleaner yesterday.
On its website, JPS said since the passage of the Category 4 monster storm which devastated several sections of Jamaica’s south coast on July 3, it has restored electricity to 95 per cent of its customer base.
The company said it has 680,000 residential and business customers.
At Wednesday’s post-Cabinet press briefing, Vaz noted that 21,000 JPS customers remained without electricity. It is estimated that approximately 100,000 persons are affected as a result.
The OUR said it approved a drawdown of US$4.5 million, or J$697,500,000, from the electricity disaster fund for JPS to prepare for the hurricane season. The company had requested US$7 million.