FALLING oil prices on the world market will push down the price of electricity locally by approximately nine per cent this month, the Jamaica Public Service (JPS) said yesterday.

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

“The reduction in the cost of oil is reflected in the fuel & IPP charge on customers’ bills. The fuel & IPP charge on January’s bills is $19.350 per kilowatt-hour (kWh), compared to the fuel charge of $22.514/ 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 nine per cent for some business customers,” said the JPS.

The company explained that the fuel & 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, it said, makes up about 60 per cent of customers’ electricity bills each month.