Upset with its delay in restoring electricity, Vaz launches broadside against JPS
KINGSTON, Jamaica — Energy Minister Daryl Vaz has ripped into the management of the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) over its extended delay in restoring electricity to some customers, three weeks after the country was impacted by Hurricane Beryl on July 3.
“I have major issues with the management in relation to where we are after three weeks,” Vaz told the House of Representatives on Tuesday.
He’s upset that the light and power company has missed the original estimate given to Cabinet for restoration; missed deadlines published for parish-by-parish restoration; and has not fully restored services to areas which they indicated are restored.
Additionally, Vaz said that “based on the missed deadlines, the projected date for full restoration keeps moving further and further away”.
He shared that coming out of his last meeting with the company’s management last Saturday, he was not satisfied with “the answers to my many questions and that JPS truly understands the pain and suffering of the people of Jamaica/JPS customers”.
Vaz said that according to the latest numbers from the JPS, which does not include the parish of St Elizabeth, approximately 19,000 customers remain without supply.
Doubting those numbers, Vaz said he created an online mechanism to receive feedback from the public “and the feedback has been alarming”.
“Within a 24-hour period and at my last check, almost 400 JPS customers have indicated that their respective communities remain unaccounted for on the published JPS work schedule. This is unacceptable,” he declared.
Vaz said he has shared the data with JPS, and has demanded that every community unrepresented or unaccounted for be added and that communication be made to these customers using whatever methods the JPS has at its disposal.
The energy minister said he is also still awaiting the report on the outcome of the meeting between the JPS and the Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR).
“Based on the results of that, it is my intention to meet with the management, board and shareholders of JPS to further outline my concerns and to request a detailed schedule of locations for customers still not connected and a firm schedule with timelines for them to address. If I need to be on the road every week, with a schedule in hand to ensure conformity, then that is what will be done. If the JPS cannot hold themselves to the schedules that they set, then, I – Daryl will,” he warned.
