KINGSTON, Jamaica — The Jamaica Public Service Company Limited (JPS) is reporting declines in breaches of the Guaranteed Standards (GS) for the October — December 2020 quarter.

According to a report from the Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR), JPS’ compliance report on its Guaranteed Standards’ performance indicated that 16,952 breaches were committed during the quarter, which represents a nine per cent reduction over the preceding period. These breaches attracted compensatory payments of approximately $37.1 million, the OUR said.

It noted that estimated bills, estimation of consumption and connection to supply accounted for 99 per cent of breaches and compensatory payments.

However, the regulatory body said similar to the preceding two reporting periods, no compensatory payments were paid to customers.

JPS advised that it continues to await the response from the Ministry of Science, Energy and Technology (MSET) regarding its request to suspend the GS resulting from the island being designated a disaster area, due to the impact of COVID-19 since 2020 March.

The OUR said JPS’ GS compliance reports for 2020 indicated that a total of 64,548 breaches were committed which represents a five per cent reduction compared to the 2019 figures.

Potential compensation associated with the 64,548 breaches was approximately $140.1 million of which approximately 20 per cent was paid. The remaining 80 per cent of compensation has not been paid pending MSET’s decision.

The OUR said it enquired about the status of MSET’s decision on JPS’ force majeure GS request to inform its decision on the outstanding JPS GS compensation payments, however, no response was received.