The following is a response from the Office of the Utilities Regulation to concerns raised by a letter-writer.

We have taken note of the letter to the editor, written by Frank Manborde and published on Wednesday, May 18, 2016 in the Jamaica Observer, concerning the Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR). In his letter, entitled ‘Abolish OUR and gas issues’, Manborde said, inter alia: “…The OUR has no legal authority to get justice for such aggrieved customers and cannot lawfully impose any financial and monetary fine.”

For the record, the OUR is the utility customers’ avenue of appeal. This means that we are the agency to which aggrieved utility customers should take their issues when they have exhausted all other means of redress from the utility companies.

Operating in this way, the OUR has, through its actions, ensured the payment of millions of dollars by utility companies. In 2015 alone, the total amount secured by the OUR for utility consumers was $10.86 million. This followed $23.67 million in 2014. This is in addition to assisting customers with their service-related issues, such as restoration of supplies, correcting service irregularities, and improving service quality.

Addressing customer complaints

The OUR fields hundreds of customer contacts each month via walks-ins, calls, e-mail, and messages via social media. Between January and March 2016, for example, we interacted with nearly 700 customers.

Some issues are simple to resolve and are cleared up in hours or days. Others are very technical and require in-depth investigation that may involve site visits, testing of equipment, or analysis by our engineers or external entities. Whatever the nature of the issue, however, the OUR’s objective and practice is to explore the limit of our legislative remit to ensure that the customers’ interest is protected.

At the same time, it is important to state that the OUR is only empowered through various legislation to take actions against utility companies where it deems that the service provider is in contravention of its mandate or contract with the customer.

OUR’s authority

We also acknowledge that to ensure greater effectiveness, the OUR should have more powers. Over the years, we have made several submissions to the Cabinet setting out proposed changes to the OUR Act. Although unsuccessful to date, we continue to press for amendments to modernise the Act and to make the organisation more effective in its regulation of utility service providers.

Our recommendations include proposals to enhance the enforcement powers of the regulator and establish a tribunal to adjudicate appeals against decisions of the OUR and extensive provisions on consumer protection.

Notable OUR achievements

Apart from some of the direct dividends to consumers enumerated above, we wish to underscore the following among the most recent successes representing direct and indirect boons to consumers:

* Spearheading the successful installation of a local internet exchange point (IXP) in July 2014 which will provide significant benefits in terms of speed, cost and security with respect to the exchange of traffic among local networks once fully utilised.

* The dramatic lowering of mobile rates in 2013 by the OUR’s direct intervention to determine lower termination rates for mobile calls.

* The successful implementation of number portability in 2015, in conjunction with the then Ministry of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining.

* Embarking on an islandwide public education campaign called ‘Parish Connections’, which is increasing public awareness and providing utility companies with opportunities to connect with their customers at the community level, and engage them about their rights and responsibilities as utility customers. Since its launch last year, we have staged over 20 community events in six parishes.

* Jamaicans are on track through the sustained efforts of the OUR and other partners to benefit from lower electricity costs from well over 100 MW of renewable electricity, more than 70 MW of which is scheduled to be commissioned in the next month or two. Notably as well, the most recent renewable solicitation managed by the OUR saw the selection of Eight Rivers Energy Company Limited as the preferred bidder to build, own and operate a 33.1-MW solar photovoltaic power-generation facility at Paradise Park, Westmoreland. The proposed price, of US$0.0854/kWh marks the lowest cost ever for solar power in Jamaica, and has set the pricing bar for future renewable projects.

We are cognisant that there are still many miles to go and that the regulation of the different sectors continues to be adversely affected by deficiencies in the respective policy and the legal and regulatory frameworks. Our efforts to have these addressed have met with mixed results and, in general, the levels of performance within the utility sectors are less than desired, in terms of service quality, reliability, access, compliance, efficiency, security, and sustainability. We are undaunted in our objective, however, to regulate within the public interest, and remain steadfast in our mission to drive efficiency and improve quality of service.

We thank letter-writer Frank Manborde for raising these concerns and extend to him an invitation to meet with us for further discussion as to how we can improve our services as we seek to regulate utilities for the benefit of all. We also commend his continued interest in matters that are so vital to consumers.