CRIES over high electricity bills have been loud and plentiful, with blame cast at the Jamaica Public Service (JPS) for the spikes.

However, three electricians certified by the Ministry of Science, Energy and Technology are pointing to the slapdash work of illegitimate electricians as the possible reason why some consumers are forced to dig deep into their pockets.

The electricians lamented that too many Jamaicans rely upon self-proclaimed electricians to take on such a serious task.

Ellsworth Gayle, who is based in St Catherine, told the Jamaica Observer that something as simple as the size of wires is important.

“If the property isn’t wired the right way, with the right size wires from the main panel to the meter socket, there will be problems. The electricians that learn the trade by ear, and leave from one site to another site and learn the trade, they will not wire the place properly — and based on that, you’re going to have that high electricity bill,” he said.

“Even Tuesday, I went to inspect a house and when you look and see how it was wired, the light bill must heavy because it is not wired properly. That will cause them to have the high electricity bill. I guarantee that.”

In August the Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) said it granted a rate review to the company which would see light bills for residential customers increasing by 0.7 per cent, while commercial customers will see increases ranging from 0.4 per cent to 1.2 per cent.

The increases took effect on August 22, 2022. The JPS had applied for an increase of 3.3 per cent for residential customers and 0.9 per cent to 2.1 per cent for commercial customers.

Nonetheless, Gayle said until the customers get registered or licensed electricians to do the work correctly, they will continue to be burdened by those issues.

“They are not following the regulations, and if you don’t follow the regulations you are going to have a whole heap of problem,” he told the Sunday Observer.

“You will have heat loss, you will have mechanical stress on the wires, slack connections — and all of those contribute to high electricity bill.”

Gayle warned that not only does the overheating of wires result in a spike in energy usage, but that it may also result in fires.

“Most of the places that you hear burning down, that is the type of work that happen — a dem things deh a gwaan. Wires come under mechanical stress and create problem and house burn down,” he said.

Last year, acting assistant commissioner and officer in charge of the Fire Prevention Division of the Jamaica Fire Brigade (JFB), Emilio Ebanks said that household or structural fires are normally caused by electricity, whether it is coming from persons syphoning off the grid or situations where persons are not connected properly.

Ebanks urged homeowners to get a licensed and certified electrician to check their house wiring every five years, in order to prevent fires.

Victor Hendricks, an electrician in St Elizabeth, said the issue of untrained electricians being paid to outfit properties is an ongoing one, and said licensed electricians are overlooked, and the customers eventually face the consequences.

“That’s just how the Jamaican society functions. I was one of the earliest licensed electricians in south-east St Elizabeth. I was one of the recruits that came down from England for Alpart [Alumina Partners of Jamaica]. What you found happening in those early days is that people really didn’t know about electricity. I was one of the men who did everything to get electricity for my district. People objected to it,” he said.

“And as time passed a few young chaps started to catch on and learned. Now, as people started to find somebody who could put up a piece of wire and it work, they claim he is a good electrician. That thing go on and on until it reach to a stage now where those said said chaps start telling people that the licensed man is too expensive. This is one of the grounds on which those men elevated themselves.”

Hendricks told the Sunday Observer that oftentimes, certified electricians like himself are only sought after unqualified tradesmen create a mess.

“A lot of this exists. We get called when a next man do a bad job and stuck. It’s not until something happen that they call you to ask you what happened. We get the job when it gets out of their hands… that is when they check with you. It is in every sector, but on the commercial side you may find that they are not as willing to go that way.”

In March the JPS said it was appealing for reduced house wiring costs. This came in light of the fact that customers have seen “unacceptably high prices” quoted by electricians and inspectors since the establishment of the deregulated Government Electrical Regulator.

The company said it had hoped that persons would be shielded from this outcome and so had requested that the Ministry of Energy put a cap on fees to make it more affordable.

Moreover, in response to the market’s needs JPS said it was preparing to embark on a training programme to prepare candidates to become electricians and electrical inspectors, thereby expanding this pool of skilled professionals and facilitating faster and cheaper house wiring.

Everton Duncan, who operates in St Andrew, reiterated that there are several technical issues as it relates to wire size.

He noted that individuals will still get electricity with undersized wires, as the problems slowly and quietly exacerbate.

“The wire will burn and the breaker will trip. Say for example you have a 20-amp breaker and you use a 15-amp wire; the breaker will trip if you’re drawing more than the current that the wire is able to take. You don’t just put a wire on a breaker,” Duncan explained.

“Some people will plug a fridge and a dryer on the same circuit and it trips the breaker, and they just call an electrician to put in a bigger breaker. You don’t just change the breaker… you have to change the breaker and the wire. Those are issues that some electricians may make mistakes with.”

Duncan also pointed to the absence of or improperly run ground wires on properties, which can be fatal. Ground wires discharge excess electricity safely to the ground so that this excess doesn’t cause injuries or fires.

“Say for instance current should start leaking on the body of an equipment; the ground wire would trip the breaker. If you don’t have it, you will go there and touch the body metal appliance and it shocks you — it protects the individual from getting electrocuted. Sometimes electricians use undersized ground wires just the same as they would use the undersized current carrying wires,” he told the Sunday Observer.

“What happens is that when you feel a wire heat up, the electricity is converted into heat energy, rather than the appliance using energy. So, you’re drawing 20 amps through the wire but at the same time you’re wasting a lot of current doing a heating job, so you tend to lose some electricity there. That’s not what you really want.”