THE Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) has rejected claims that it fell down on the job in the aftermath of Hurricane Beryl and allowed utility companies, particularly the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS), to shaft Jamaican consumers.

On Monday Cabinet ministers joined Minister of Science, Energy, Telecommunications and Transport Minister Daryl Vaz in his bid to get the OUR to act on urgent matters to ensure JPS is held accountable post-Beryl.

According to Vaz, while he was exerting political muscle on JPS, it was up to the OUR to act, as it has the regulatory authority.

“The fact is that I have done as much as I can do within my power as a minister. And this is now over to the OUR to work with me and to assist me, from the regulatory standpoint, to put the pressure on JPS… I truly look forward to the OUR coming out and being more aggressive in defence of the customers of the JPS,” Vaz said.

On Wednesday OUR Director General Ansord Hewitt defended the work of the regulatory agency in the aftermath of the hurricane as he told a post-Cabinet media briefing that it has been diligently carrying out its required functions as a regulatory body behind the scenes.

The OUR has oversight for the main utilities — electricity, water, sewage and telecommunications — and Hewitt said it was being cautious in making public statements in terms of the issues that have arisen regarding the performance of utility companies post-Beryl, before it had the opportunity to carry out its investigations.

According to Hewitt, the OUR was reluctant to speak publicly on the issues as it did not want to make statements that could be said to be prejudicial.

“We made a judgement as to the extent of the public statement that we would make and also, because there is a requirement that after this event has passed we are going to have to look back at how everybody performed, and we wanted to be able to say that we are doing so with an objective eye,” said Hewitt.

Revealing a raft of measures the OUR has been undertaking to address post-Beryl issues concerning utility companies, Hewitt said that much work is being done and more is to be done.

He explained that part of what is done in the immediate aftermath of a disaster is to assess what has happened and to assess what will be needed to recover.

He argued that if dates are given too quickly, there is the risk of a bad assessment.

“So we believe that the utilities are at a point, they are way past the point, I think, where they must know exactly what is required to recover and can give proper timelines. So, hence, it is a good time to talk and to issue directives,” the OUR head added.

Hewitt said the regulator accepts that a most vital part of its responsibility is to hold the providers to their obligation to provide service, preferably uninterrupted, but in the event of interruption, however caused, to have restoration at the earliest time possible.

“Depending on the scale and duration of an interruption, the OUR is required to undertake a forensic examination into causation – actions before, during and after the event and to determine if there have been breaches. In this context, and as a public body, the OUR, in the exercise of its functions and in particular its decision-making, employs natural justice principles that embody a duty to act fairly towards all of its stakeholders.

He told the media briefing that this includes the reservation of judgement on matters until it investigates and verifies facts to avoid suggestions of bias and also consultation with affected parties observing their right to be heard.

“This does not, however, prevent us from insisting that the utilities exercise due diligence to restore service in the shortest possible time and to provide customers with updates on the progress reported to us or assessment of the situation, the initiatives we have taken, the instructions we have issued to the utilities, and our expectations for the future,” said Hewitt.

He pointed out that since the commencement of the Beryl restoration activities, the process has been under constant regulatory monitoring, and the OUR has had several meetings with JPS to address certain developments and issues in the system restoration process.

“We have conveyed to JPS in all our engagements, that we expect that it will exercise all diligence to expedite restoration,” said Hewitt.

He noted that at the OUR’s last meeting with JPS on Monday, the company committed to restoring service to all its customers by August 12, even in the most severely damaged areas.

Hewitt said he also received a report that indicated that the number of JPS customers still not receiving service was 21,514 as of Monday, with this figure to be updated with the connections that could have been made on Tuesday.

“The OUR is aware that these dates and numbers are very small comforts to customers who have been without service since July 3, and so we have urged the company to take every possible step, including the engagement of additional resources, to shorten these timelines.

“In any event, given that the company has missed previously established restoration dates, the OUR will be issuing a directive for it to comply with the timelines it has given. If they are missed, the JPS will be required, to show that it took all reasonable steps within its means to have secured compliance,” said Hewitt.

He added that the OUR will also be conducting a post-mortem of Beryl, “which is even more critical in learning lessons for the rest of the season and beyond.

“We will also be issuing JPS with specific directives, with respect to the remaining timelines with which we expect strict compliance. We’re monitoring the restoration of all utilities and doing ad hoc verification and surveillance. Ultimately, as well, there’s an audit function for conformity. We have been careful to manage the regulatory reporting burden we impose on the utilities, so as not to impact restoration efforts which takes priority,” he said.

Turning to regulatory initiatives beyond Beryl, Hewitt said in the ensuing months, the OUR will need to take into account the lessons learnt from the hurricane and how Jamaica can further harden its infrastructure and make them more resilient.

“I wish to note, however, that there is always a trade-off between cost and these features; it is reality. However, we cannot resile from engaging on these issues to provide the best way forward,” said Hewitt.

“The need to focus on how to prevent one utility from becoming a single point of failure is also flagged in the wake of Beryl. There is indeed much work being done and to be done. Maybe another of the immediate post-Beryl lessons is that we should be less silent about it,” added Hewitt.