KELLY Tomblin, president and CEO, Jamaica Public Service Company Limited (JPS), believes Jamaicans who steal electricity make reducing the high oil import cost difficult to achieve.

According to Tomblin, during her address at a workshop hosted on November 12 by the Environmental Health Foundation (EHF) in Majesty Gardens under the theme ‘Energy Efficiency, Regularisation, Energy Consumption and Safety’, those who do not pay for electricity generally disregard the prescribed methods — reiterated through global channels over the years — of how households can reduce their energy consumption per month.

“Our studies show that people who aren’t paying for electricity use two or three times more than the people who do. Not only is that dangerous, but it does drive up the cost for everybody,” Tomblin said during her address.

Tomblin went on to add that this is one of the primary reasons JPS has been encouraging non-paying consumers to become regularised. They will be more concerned about the amount of energy their households consume per month. They will also aim to reduce their monthly costs as current paying customers do and help other Jamaicans in their fight against global warming and in becoming a more energy-efficient nation.

She said inner-city communities, such as Majesty Gardens where she was speaking, account for one of the highest-ranked demographic groups, who steal electricity. This demographic, she posits, should be encouraged to desist from stealing and be educated about affordable renewable energy technologically driven products which are available at their disposal.

Tomblin said JPS is currently exploring measures that will make energy more affordable for Jamaicans, especially those who complain that they cannot afford the high monthly costs, and steal it for survival.

“We are working with the Government to do a number of different things to help come with a subsidised rate, to help come up with a PATH programme and to help do a number of things to help you afford energy,” Tomblin said.

In closing, she said Jamaica’s objective of reducing on our oil import cost is reaping some results

“The good news is that the cost of oil is going down. This month it went down eight per cent. The other good news is that we’ve (JPS) invested in our power plants so we’re using less oil to make a kilowatt hour. We need to make it less because 60 per cent or 70 per cent of your bill is for oil,” Tomblin said before ending her presentation.

Residents from Majesty Gardens were in agreement with Tomblin’s call for Jamaicans to stop stealing electricity.

A female resident told Environment Watch, “We appreciate that the head of JPS came and talked to us because we were ignorant before. We didn’t know what to do or how to go about it. We find it more affordable when we bridge the light. When JPS comes and take down the wires, we buy back the wires, which cost around $2,000.”

A male resident said, “Being present at the workshop showed me that when you’re not using appliances, you should unplug them to save. If we start to practise what the people who are doing, it will make it better for everyone and more so, our economy.”

The workshop was funded under a Renewable Energy and Youth Empowerment Project with grant funding of US$50,000 from Global Environment Facility Small Grants Programme and co-funding from the Environment Health Foundation.

According to a release from the Environmental Health Foundation, one of the primary reasons for the workshop was “to build the community’s capacity for climate change mitigation, as well as, complement climate change adaptation strategies.”

The release further stated that “the project’s goal is to reduce the electricity cost of the St Andrew settlement by up to 70 per cent as well as to build awareness among community members of the benefits of renewable energy and energy efficiency”.