KINGSTON, Jamaica — The Jamaica Public Service (JPS) today reported the arrest of a business owner following the discovery of an illegally connected heated swimming pool and hot tub at a location used as a business and residence in downtown Kingston.

JPS said the pool was discovered during their operation in the Lower Barry Street, Laws Street, Georges Lane and Rum Lane areas, where several other illegal connections were also removed.  

The power company said it found that individuals have attempted to have some electrical appliances or other items such as swimming pools, bypass the meter, to avoid paying the correct energy consumption cost.  

“Such customers have been caught stealing as much as up to 60 per cent of their consumption.  It has been found however, that these customers tend not to steal above this level, in an effort to appear to have a legitimate electricity bill,” JPS said in a release today.

Besides carrying out operations in high theft areas, the company said it has increased its use of analytics, on-the-ground intelligence, random sampling, and meter auditing.

“The illegal abstraction of electricity continues to be detected at all socio-economic levels.  Besides the recent finding in the business place in downtown Kingston, instances of electricity theft have also been found in communities on the other end of the spectrum such as Manor Park, Cherry Gardens and Meadowbrook, among other areas,” JPS said.