KINGSTON, Jamaica – The Jamaica Public Service (JPS) today announced that electricity bills will reduce by approximately 9 per cent this month, as a result of further decreases in oil prices on the world market.

JPS said that over the past year the average customer’s electricity bill has been reduced by about 18 per cent as the company and other local power producers have been paying less for the oil used to generate electricity.

The electricity supply company explained that the reduction in the cost of oil is reflected in the Fuel & IPP Charge on customers’ bills. According to JPS, the Fuel & IPP Charge on January bills is J$19.350 per kilowatt/hour (kWh), compared to the Fuel Charge of J$22.514 per kWh that was applied to bills in December.

This converts to an overall decrease of 8.65 per cent for the typical residential customer using 165 kWh per month, and 9 per cent for some business customers, the JPS said.

The Fuel and IPP Charge on electricity bills changes each month, depending on the cost of the oil that JPS and the other power generating companies buy to produce electricity. This charge makes up about 60 per cent of customers’ electricity bills each month.