KINGSTON, Jamaica — Jamaica Public Service (JPS) is reporting that it has improved the reliability of its service by approximately 50 per cent over the past four years — from 2014 to 2018 — with a J$650 million investment in modernising the grid over the period.

According to JPS, customers would have seen a decline in the number of service interruptions for the year, from an average of 19.2 outages in 2014 to 9.7 in 2018 — a drop of roughly 50 per cent.

JPS added that the average duration of outages experienced annually, has fallen over the same period, from 41.2 hours in 2014 to 27.1 hours in 2018 — a reduction of 34 per cent.

The investment included installing smart devices on the distribution network, which have allowed JPS to quickly locate faults on the system and create virtual self-healing capabilities for the grid, facilitating more reliable power supply to homes, businesses and public lighting, the company said in a release today.

The grid modernisation programme will continue with the increased use of smart technologies, making it comparable to any in the world, the electricity distribution company added.