I make no apologies for using this column to vent about getting nowhere with the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPSCo) because I have nowhere else to turn. It’s been 48 hours (as at Thursday when I was writing this column) since asking for a JPSCo supervisor to call me back to tell me why I now need a licensed electrician and a lawyer in order to reinstall two meters, despite having made applications for reconnection two weeks ago. I’ve yet to receive the supervisor’s call.

Clearly, JPSCo doesn’t want or need any more of my business.

The matter is a simple one, and that’s the point; if the JPSCo can drive up my blood pressure over their inability to properly take an order for service, what service can it offer to people who have far more serious issues?

If the JPSCo is allowed to enjoy a very lucrative monopoly — it reported a net profit of US$40 million (J$3.43 billion) for 2010, a decline of five per cent despite a 19 per cent gain in electricity revenue — then it must be made to provide efficient service. (And affordable service too — but that’s a whole other column).

In the last 20 years, hundreds of thousands of dollars have been paid to the JPSCo for electricity in those two side-by-side rental apartments. Looking at the bills, one notes that the company has made a small fortune in reconnection fees as well. But it matters not, for I’m just one of many ‘eediat’ consumers out there who has no other option but to do business with this utility company.

The sequence of events, according to me, is this: No one from JPSCo called, nor did they text, e-mail, send a note or a message by carrier pigeon about removing two electricity meters for which I have responsibility.

But that’s OK. With the apartments empty, no light running, zero bill balances and being wary of inviting a light-tiefing situation, I thought it best to leave the power disconnected until new tenants were identified for the apartments. Further, the meters belong to JPSCo and, as was explained to me, they apparently have every right fi come fi dem tings. Fine.

JPSCo was called to request the replacement of the two meters and they advised that the installation would take between one and five working days. Daily follow-up calls to JPSCo during those five working days were greeted with “there is nothing on the system yet”. Desperate calls to JPSCo on days six and seven were greeted with the news that the representative who took the order was not in office.

A ranting and raving call (yes, that’s ultimately how you get taken seriously in Jamaica) on day eight revealed that the JPSCo representative had put only one order into the system instead of two and that that single order was cancelled by the independent JPSCo contractor assigned to effect the job because he “couldn’t decide what meter socket to use”. What is he, a plumber?

Because of the contractor’s indecision and his cancellation of the order, the owner would have to reapply for a new contract and engage the service of a licensed electrician to identify to the contractor where to install the meters. In addition to which this service requires entirely new applications and the owner, whose name already appears on the existing contracts, would have to take out two new contracts. If the owner cannot make the application in person he must legally assign the right to do so by way of letter identifying his representative. Give me a break.

I spent nearly an hour on the phone with a very polite, well-trained JPSCo customer service representative who clearly identified the problem: JPSCo only recorded and assigned one order. It is as simple as that. Instead of JPSCo just correcting the original order, the owner must now undertake a most frustrating, expensive and bureaucratic course of action if the owner wants light.

Fouling up a simple request for replacement meters was bad customer service. Cancelling the order for reinstalling the meters and telling no-one is a failure to communicate with the customer and is poor, poor form. As well-trained as the customer service representatives are in fielding calls and being pleasant, their execution leaves much to be desired. They are so quick to let you know that the calls made to their customer service centre are being monitored for “quality control”, which is a warning to the caller not to get on too bad on the phone. But this quality control only works one way, it is not for the JPSCo to check back and see if it was at all culpable in not providing service.

In my opinion, good customer service demands that the company recognises its error and takes action to correct it.

JPSCo disagrees. Its very pleasant response to this state of affairs is this: we understand your frustration, but we take no responsibility for our failure to execute your request properly.

It doesn’t have to take responsibility for anything, while we are forced to give in to its every desire for a raise in rates. We have no choice — JPSCo is the sole provider of electricity and it does so at extortionate prices, which it claims to be justified by the rising cost of fuel.

But the Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) is claiming that bloated oil charges are inflating consumer light bills. According to the OUR, Jamaicans paid US$578 million ($49.7 billion) for fuel in 2010, a 24 per cent increase of US$112 million ($9.6 billion). The rate at which fuel is procured by the JPSCo is passed on directly to electricity consumers whose fuel charges represent 65 to 70 per cent of the total charge for electricity. There is an overcharge in the current structure which must be corrected, says the OUR, but there is no indication as to when this will be done.

You wonder why we’re not moving forward?

I note that the PNP is calling for the dismantling of the JPSCo monopoly. If it means that the rights of consumers will be better protected, I fully endorse the call.

scowicomm@gmail.com