THE Jamaica Public Service Company (JPSCo) said yesterday that customers will see an increase in this month's bills over those in December, as a result of the depreciation in the Jamaican dollar and rising fuel prices.

"A typical residential customer using 250 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity will see an increase of 6.4 per cent over his bill for the previous month. This is due to a 12.6 per cent increase in fuel costs and a 2.1 per cent in the billing exchange rate," the JPSCo said in a statement yesterday.

According to the light and power company, the cost of providing the service is influenced by the foreign exchange rate as a lot of its costs are foreign related. "Customers' bills are therefore adjusted each month to reflect the movement of the Jamaican dollar on the market," the company statement said.

It noted that the cost of fuel used to generate electricity is passed on to customers through the company's tariff structure, hence a fluctuation in world trends would be reflected in customers' bills.

The JPSCo added that two other variables also influence what customers pay each month. "The amount of electricity used by the customer, and the number of days for which he is being billed. The precise increase that a customer sees on the January 2003 bill will therefore vary depending on these two variables."

An application from the JPSCo for a 6.7 per cent increase in electricity tariffs is also before the Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR), and if granted consumers would be hit with much higher bills later in the year.

At the same time, the OUR is expected to receive this week, a report from the light and power company on the cause of spiralling electricity consumption in recent bills to its customers.

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