JPSCo told to fix billing system
THE Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) has given the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPSCo) until June 30 to adjust its billing system, which in recent times has resulted in a spew of complaints from consumers who were sent spiralling electricity bills.
The OUR’s directive was issued yesterday after investigations into billing problems that surfaced shortly after the light and power company commissioned its Customer Information System (CIS) last September.
The CIS essentially manages customer data and electronically produces bills. Under this system, the consumer’s consumption pattern is calculated at 80 per cent.
But according to the OUR, this 80 per cent high/low rejection criterion was too high and it yesterday instructed the JPSCo to reduce it by June 30, to plus or minus 65 per cent.
“The OUR determined that while there was no evidence to suggest that there was a systematic problem causing the incidences of high billing, there was some indication that the problem may have been related to incorrect meter readings. It was noted that the critical quality control point is the upload from the meter reading system to the CIS. At plus or minus 80 per cent, the high/low rejection criterion is too high,” the OUR said in a statement yesterday.
In issuing its directive, the OUR also called on the light and power company to provide it with monthly reports on the number of accounts rejected at the upload to CIS stage.
In January, the OUR asked the JPSCo to correct problems in its billing system after 45 per cent of 20 sample bills showed meter reading errors. Another 20 per cent of the samples also appeared to show no relationship between what the JPSCo initially estimated customers consumed and the electricity for which they were finally billed.
Yesterday’s directive, which was contained in an OUR memorandum, signed by Director-General J Paul Morgan, also called on the JPSCo to:
* provide the OUR, within three months, a time-bound plan of action to upgrade skills and to secure improvements in its delivery of customer care; and
* provide the OUR with monthly data on the number of complaints about high consumption.
Morgan also noted that the OUR will be converting into a guaranteed standard, a requirement that no customer’s bill be estimated on more than three consecutive occasions.