Dear Claudienne

I am a minister of religion. Some two years ago I rented a building in St Catherine for the purpose of keeping church services twice per week.

In August last year I received a bill from the Jamaica Public Service company informing me that I owed over $160,000 for electricity for the building and shortly after that the light was disconnected.

I went to the JPS to investigate and was told that on June 15, 2010, they found an illegal connection on the pothead which led to another building on the same compound. We were not aware of this illegal connection since we only use the building twice per week. There was no illegal connection on the building the church occupied.

After I insisted that the illegal connection was not the fault of the church, the JPS told me to write a letter to them stating the specifics of the problem and they would look into the matter. We wrote to the JPS almost one year ago but we have had no response from them.

Could you kindly help us with this matter.

ET

Dear ET

In July we contacted the JPS. After extensive investigations they advised Tell Claudienne that there was indeed an illegal connection. Nonetheless they have decided to reverse the charges as a goodwill gesture.

The JPS stated the following: “We have completed our investigations and while it cannot be disregarded that there was an illegal connection that went from the pothead on the church to another building on the same property, as a gesture of goodwill we will be reversing the charges that were placed on the account that is associated with the church and we will be reconnecting the power to the church building.”

Good luck.

Dear Claudienne

All the best to you.

A friend and I applied to the Kingston and St Andrew Corporation for two dance permits and paid the fees. The dances were to be held on March 26, at different addresses, but had to be cancelled because the police refused to grant us permission to keep them.

We both went back to the KSAC for a refund but were told that we first had to get letters from the police outlining why permission was refused. We got the letters and presented them to the KSAC along with the receipts. We were told that it would take three to four weeks for the process to be completed and for the fees to be refunded.

However, it is almost the end of June and we still have not got back our money. We have also written to the town clerk but to no avail.

Can you help us please?

MS & SC

Dear MS &SC

Tell Claudienne spoke to the Revenue officer at the KSAC and he promised to investigate your complaint. He said that you gave the police letter and receipts to a KSAC employee who was on long leave when we spoke to him. However, they searched the records and have found the original applications. They have also established that the fees were not refunded. On September 6, the revenue officer assured us that he had asked the town clerk for approval to refund the fees.

Please check with the Revenue officer.

Good luck.

Have a problem with a store, utility, a company? Telephone 936-9436 or write to: Tell Claudienne c/o Sunday Finance, Jamaica Observer, 40-42 1/2 Beechwood Avenue, Kingston 5; or e-mail: edwardsc@jamaicaobserver.com. Please include a contact phone number.