OPPOSITION spokesman on energy Phillip Paulwell has charged that Jamaica’s economy has failed to achieve significant growth in recent years due to a lack of urgency in the approach to the energy sector by the Andrew Holness-led Administration.

“This lack of [economic] growth or slow growth has been linked to the poor performance of our energy sector over many decades,” Paulwell said in his contribution to the 2024-2025 Sectoral Debate in Parliament on Tuesday.

“Energy is so crucial to all aspects of our lives and affects, in a profound way, the high cost of production and the resulting lack of growth. After some glowing and significant achievements in energy between 2012 and 2016, we are now witnessing reversals of that trend,” Paulwell charged as he pointed to the World Economic Forum’s Global Energy Architecture Performance Index which, he said, showed Jamaica’s dramatic improvement between 2013 and 2017, moving 74 places from 166 to 92.

“That improvement slowed appreciably to six places during the 2017-2021 period,” charged Paulwell.

He told the House that when he was the minister with responsibility for energy the then People’s National Party (PNP) Administration determined that US$0.15 per kilowatt hour (kWh) was the price that it should aspire to achieve if the Jamaican economy was to become competitive and grow.

“Today, this Government has no notion of a benchmark price that it wants to attain…I don’t even believe that this Government is aware of the price of electric energy at this time. If they did, then there would be a greater sense of urgency to correct the situation.

“When we left Government in 2016 the price per kWh of electricity was about US$0.23, today, that price has escalated to about US$0.40 per kWh. No wonder growth in the economy continues to elude us and our people continue to suffer,” added Paulwell.

Charging that the Ministry of Energy has been unstable and unfocused, and that nothing much has been attempted since 2016, Paulwell said that this is among the reasons that Jamaica is not achieving any success in this important and critical area.

“This lack of a sense of urgency has been typical of this Government in its approach to energy to the disadvantage of our society,” said Paulwell, who is also the Opposition Leader of Government Business in the House of Representatives.

He pointed to the Government’s failure to begin the review of the 2015 electricity law by 2020 as was initially scheduled and charged that this is an indication of the Administration’s lack of regard for the critical sector.

“This law was passed in 2015 to modernise the legal and regulatory framework for electricity that was over 100 years old. It was clear to me and the Parliament that the law was going to be transitional and would need a comprehensive review after five years to observe its implementation and to anticipate the upcoming expiration of the tenure of the existing Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) licence.

“This review should have been done in 2020. The review only started after my insistence, but the process has been painfully slow. And even though the work of the joint select committee has been completed, we are yet to see the tabling of the report in Parliament,” said Paulwell.

He pointed out that the JPS licence expires in 2027 and charged that the Government is yet to begin negotiation with the company.

“I fear that come 2027, at the pace of which this Government operates, there will be no new arrangements in place as we hobble along. If I were minister, I would have in place today a negotiating team, already engaging JPS and seeking to use this emerging reality as leverage to secure some of the changes that should occur from now.”

According to Paulwell, if he was the minister he would seek to clarify with the JPS, and seek to implement, a regime for charging ports/stations for electric vehicles that is fully competitive and to provide incentives for these to be established using renewable sources of energy.

Paulwell told the House that he would also seek to enable enterprises that are established within special economic zones to generate and distribute electricity within the zone.

“This will lead to rapid growth in this area, which is hampered by the high cost of electricity. And, of course, we will encourage that renewables be the source of energy for these zones,” said Paulwell.

“What would I be saying to JPS if I were the minister today: ‘Don’t fear competition, competition will always lead to the growth in a given market, so embrace it. Electricity transmission and distribution is no longer regarded as a pure monopoly. Don’t be caught flat-footed as was the case in 2001 when another monopolist had to be forcibly awakened from its slumber. If adjustments aren’t made now, then you will be left behind’,” added Paulwell.

The Opposition spokesman also chided the Holness Administration for what he said was its slow movement on renewable energy and charged that, “Jamaica became the leading country in the English-speaking Caribbean in relation to renewable energy by 2016, we are no longer so”.

Paulwell further bashed the Administration for what he said was its failure to promulgate regulations to enable transparent and clear rules that would encourage competition in the provision of liquefied natural gas to Jamaica.

“I call for these regulations to be tabled forthwith and for them to apply not only to the generation of electricity, but also to their use in transportation and other areas. This is a clear path towards the lowering of energy costs in Jamaica,” said Paulwell.