ENERGY provider, Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) has added 4,000 new customers from Tivoli Gardens and other surrounding communities since January in a bid to stem the billions lost in electricity theft.

The threat of violence prevented JPS from entering these troubled communities prior to mounted operations by the security forces. Since January it has connected the communities of Seaview Gardens, Retirement Road, Portmore Villa, Tivoli Gardens, Denham Town and Rose Town. JPS told the Business Observer yesterday that 620 of the 4,000 were residents of Tivoli Gardens, who were added following the Labour Day incursion by the security forces.

“We would like to thank the Jamaica Constabulary Force and Jamaica Defence Force for the support that we have received from them to allow us to go into areas that we have not gone in 10 years for security reasons,” said Damian Obiglio president of JPS yesterday at its annual general meeting at JPS headquarters in Kingston. “We are now wiring Denham Town, Rose Town and Tivoli Gardens. We also opened a customer service office in each of these communities and we are having the people sign in.”

He stated that JPS needs to convince residents of the need to pay for electricity via providing social programmes and infrastructure.

“So education is part of the programme. So we are actively working in Tivoli Gardens…Yes we have our interest, yes to convert 7,000 households there in which none were paying for electricity. It is a job that will require more than JPS to solve,” he said.

JPS had 584,214 customers up to December 2009 versus 589,162 customers in 2008.

“JPS made notable strides in the battle against electricity theft by devoting some US$9 million ($774 million) to loss reduction initiatives, the company’s 2009 annual report stated.

JPS stated that 13 per cent of the estimated 2.9 million megawatt hours of electricity it generates is stolen.

In 2009 the JPS Anti-Theft Task Force which was dispatched to western urban centres and the corporate area uncovered some 9,300 cases of irregularities. This led to the recovery of about six million kilowatt hours of electricity valued at US$1.2 million ($103 million). Several arrests were made and the team investigated 24,000 customers supplied by major distribution feeders,” the report stated. The JPS said it is working with the Rural Electrification Programme to execute this build out of infrastructure within communities.

The two-day unrest which started on Labour Day in May was sparked by the confrontation between the security forces and gunmen said to be loyal to Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke, and resulted in 73 civilian deaths. Last month’s extradition of Coke, the former strongman of the West Kingston community of Tivoli Gardens, ended 10 months of strained relations between Washington and Kingston, which was triggered by an extradition request from the US on August 25, 2009. Coke was wanted by US law enforcers to face charges related to cocaine trafficking and the smuggling of guns.