Discounts a good move but keep focus on the powerless, JPS
We in this space are a little taken aback that, with all the hard experience this country has had with destructive hurricanes, Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) does not have an effective mechanism in place to tide it over during such events.
Of course, it is understandable that, as a business, the monopoly light and power company cannot take the kind of hit that would render it bankrupt and unable to provide the energy to keep the country going.
However, it is unconscionable for any company to ask its customers to continue to pay for a service they are not providing, even through no fault of its own.
The decision to issue estimated bills because the company cannot make actual readings, on account of the destruction wrought by Hurricane Beryl, is a throwback to the past when the JPS was not in possession of the technology that gave it the ability to read meters remotely.
Our understanding was that when the technology was introduced the JPS would no longer be forced to send out estimated bills, charging customers the average of their last three bills, even though its licence allowed this facility.
It is not unreasonable to expect that the company would have found a way to provide the financial means to take it out through destructive events, while it worked to recover.
Nonetheless, we too are relieved that JPS has decided to soften the blow of estimated bills by offering a 20 per cent discount for some 350,000 residential customers, if they use less than 150 kWh of electricity for the month.
This discount will be applied to current charges and will be reflected on bills that customers will start receiving in August. Active prepaid residential customers will get a one-off $1,500 top-up electricity credit on their accounts, the company said.
Under its Hurricane Beryl Relief Programme, JPS will continue to relax its collections and disconnection processes, until August 15, 2024. It will also facilitate flexible payment arrangements for customers who need extensions on their due dates.
Mr Phillip Paulwell, Opposition spokesman on energy, is to be commended for his suggestion to the JPS to offer a discount to JPS customers. The suggestion clearly won the support of Energy Minister Mr Daryl Vaz and the governing Jamaica Labour Party.
As a possible model, the JPS might wish to consider the approach taken by the Caribbean Utilities Company in the Cayman Islands in similar circumstance, as outlined by Mr Vaz.
“They took 75 days to restore the last customer and they did not issue a bill until the 76th day and, even in issuing those bills, they gave concessions, they gave discounts, and they gave payment plans and… any reasonable company would make a compassionate decision such as that,” said Mr Vaz.
In all of this, JPS must understand that, while the discounts and other relief are welcomed, they are no consolation to people who are suffering without electricity who might see all that as mere public relations.
The focus must remain on restoring power to those households and businesses the moment it becomes possible and not a minute later.
The decision to get linemen from other countries to support the work of local workmen appears to be an afterthought but should not be a last resort going forward.
The JPS must rise to the occasion.