ST CATHERINE, Jamaica — South East St Catherine Member of Parliament (MP), Robert Miller, has urged the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) to restore electricity as soon as possible to several areas in the constituency to bring urgent relief to scores of business owners and the elderly.

In a statement on Thursday night, Miller expressed concern that the prolonged absence of electricity, which was disconnected due to Hurricane Beryl, is putting at risk the livelihood of senior citizens and small business owners in particular.

Miller emphasised the increasing urgency for JPS to restore electricity to much of the constituency as soon as practicable. He acknowledged that while JPS is currently focusing on restoring power to the emergency sector, a timeline is needed for the restoration of power to several areas in Portmore and other communities in the constituency.

According to Miller, residents in communities including Westchester, Portsmouth, and Waterford, particularly meat vendors, are seeing their livelihoods in peril due to the prolonged power outage. He added that some senior citizens in the constituency are in an extremely vulnerable state as their refrigerated medication has spoiled.

Miller also highlighted that the absence of electricity has empowered criminal elements to move into the communities under the cover of darkness to perpetrate crimes.

The call from the South East St Catherine MP came shortly before Energy Minister Daryl Vaz summoned JPS to a meeting on Friday to discuss the lack of restoration of electricity since Beryl brushed Jamaica’s South Coast on Wednesday. Miller noted that he had had dialogue with Minister Vaz on the issue.

For its part, the utility company, in a release on Friday, said that in less than 24 hours after the passage of Hurricane Beryl, it restored 80,000 customers across the island, predominantly in Kingston and St Andrew, St Catherine and St Thomas.

JPS added that several customers in Trelawny and St James are scheduled to have their power returned before the early hours on Friday.  This, the power company said, has resulted in over 315,000 customers or 45 per cent of customers now with supply.

Director of Corporate Communications at JPS, Winsome Callum, noted that the Company, having completed the lion’s share of damage assessments in less than a day, also went on to restore several communities, as well as some essential services.

The release added that JPS teams will continue working on Friday to restore electricity to customers in the parishes of Kingston and St Andrew, St Catherine, St Thomas, St Mary, Portland, Trelawny, St James, St Ann and Manchester.