LEGISLATORS reviewing the Electricity Act, 2015 have foiled Jamaica Public Service’s (JPS) attempt to shirk accountability for its system failures by rejecting the utility provider’s suggestion to amend the definition for major system failure in the legislation.

JPS had recommended to the joint select committee (JSC) of Parliament that the definition of major system failure in Section 45, subsection 16 of the Act be amended to align with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) standard.

But at the committee’s final meeting for this year on Thursday, senior regulator of engineering at the Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) Courtney Francis said the agency has a fundamental problem with that proposal, noting, “They’re trying to introduce or incorporate a component of a voluntary standard into a parent legislation.”

He said that to do so in the Act, JPS would not be held responsible for any effects owing to their equipment failure or any action on their part which results in loss or damage. He noted as well that the IEEE standard is specifically an electricity distribution reliability standard and does not cover or transcend the entire power system.

“When we talk about major events, major events, as we understand it across the industry, is a situation in which events impact the system that are beyond the design capabilities and operating limits of the system. In most instances, based on our experience, those relate to major storm events, hurricanes, or other weather-related disaster events that overwhelm the system,” he said.

“They don’t necessarily relate to major system failures because major system failures, how we understand it in the Jamaican power system, are system shutdown events — partial or full — where there’s an equipment failure (or a number of equipment failures), generation shortage, or operator negligence. So if we’re trying to intertwine the two concepts then we’re having a problem. So, we have to be congruent and we have to be consistent in how we interpret these industry standards,” he added.

Francis further explained that there is an existing price control regime for JPS called a quality (q) factor mechanism, and that q factor mechanism fundamentally captures forced outages that impact the electricity system, which results in supply interruptions to customers.

“Under that existing framework, what obtains is that you use the indicators to establish your performance for JPS against certain targets which the OUR has to set. So what happens, whenever you have a major system failure customers are affected so it forms a part of the generalised q factor or quality of service regime that we have, which is translated into a penalty or a reward for JPS,” he said.

He said that, essentially, there will be no mechanism to hold JPS to account for a major system failure because under the current legislation, under Section 45, there’s no measure to deal with or hold JPS accountable for a major system failure.

“In some instances, based on our experience and investigations since 2006, we have seen in a number of cases where major system failures would have been caused by some things that might have not been in place. And so if you open that door to put in this standard or align it with the Act, you’re opening the door to diminish the incentives for performance under the q factor regime by the major events being excluded completely from that construct,” he said.

Francis proposed instead that the threshold for system failure be made clear and properly set out in the electricity sector book of codes.

In the meantime, committee chairman and Minister of Science, Energy, Telecommunications and Transport Daryl Vaz concurred that JPS should be held accountable for outages.

Vaz said that outside of acts of God, “they [JPS] must be held accountable 100 per cent in relation to any system failure or significant power outage”.

Government committee member Robert Miller also voiced his agreement that JPS should be held accountable for system failures.

He pointed out that there has been no water in many communities of his St Catherine South Eastern constituency for three weeks because of a failure of JPS.

“That’s what the National Water Commission (NWC) is saying, that the pump is not pumping the water because of a failure of JPS. And the citizens are suffering, so something has to be in there to hold them accountable,” he said.

Senior legal officer in the Ministry of Science, Energy, Telecommunications and Transport Kadene Campbell said the ministry did not accept the JPS’s proposal as its position is that a major system failure differs from a significant power outage.

The revised Bill is expected to be tabled before the end of January next year.