SCORES of Jamaicans who saw increases of between 30 and 100 per cent in their August electricity bills should know by Friday what, if any, relief they will receive from Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS).

At a press conference on Wednesday, at his Trafalgar Road office in St Andrew, Energy Minister Daryl Vaz announced a reprieve for customers who were without power for most of the August billing cycle in the aftermath of Hurricane Beryl, which hit Jamaica on July 3.

But Vaz had no such good word for Jamaicans who never lost power, or experienced only a brief outage and have been slapped with exorbitant electricity charges.

According to Vaz, JPS has promised to present a proposal by Friday of this week to further address concerns about the unusually high bills.

“The Government is strong and insistent that a complete roll-back of the increases is the only thing that will make this Government and this minister happy, and I think that it is achievable and attainable,” said Vaz.

He told the media briefing that the Government anxiously awaits the JPS’s proposal which was pledged during a meeting involving himself, the company’s President and Chief Executive Officer Hugh Grant, and Prime Minister Andrew Holness on Tuesday.

“He [Grant] has asked for more time to be able to do some recalculations and also have discussions with the Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR). So that is progress, and it gives me hope that there is going to be good news in the coming days. And I urge JPS and the OUR to work assiduously from now until Friday, so that on Friday morning [when] I get to my office I will have a love letter waiting on me which will be announced for the people of Jamaica and the customers of the JPS,” added Vaz.

Turning to the lifeline being provided for customers who were without power in the wake of Beryl, but were still sent electricity bills, Vaz said they will no longer be required to pay these as the JPS will retract the charges.

“While the JPS has a regulatory requirement to ensure customers are billed in a timely manner, it appreciates the frustration and experience by customers without supply, who have received bills for the period that they are out. In cases where estimated bills were sent out to persons who had no supply, JPS will cancel these bills and generate new bills representing zero consumption and therefore zero dollars owed for those bills,” the minister said as he read from a document supplied by the JPS.

Despite welcoming this bit of good news, Vaz said given the increased complaints from customers regarding billing issues, particularly exorbitant charges, the Government will be undertaking a special audit and investigation into JPS bills published in the aftermath of the hurricane.

“The major spike in the bills is simply untenable. The Government of Jamaica is sensitive to the challenges being faced by the thousands of Jamaicans… who have still not been restored, and for those who have been sent bills during the current billion cycle which are burdensome and downright unfair. The audit is intended to inform solutions to long-standing issues and complaints about the JPS billing system,” declared Vaz.

He added that the special audit will delve into all aspects of billing, not necessarily just in relation to the billing cycle for Beryl.

“It will actually look at historic billings and basically get the necessary answers [and] the Office of Utilities Regulation will have to work with that special audit because they are the regulator who would have to supply pertinent information,” the energy minister added.

While pointing out that more than 300 complaints have been received so far from JPS customers since the dedicated e-mail jpscomplaints@mset.gov.jm was launched on Tuesday around 3:00 pm, Vaz said the Government has been actively in discussions with JPS about addressing the “unfair and unjust” bills sent to customers.

Vaz argued that irrespective of what the regulations of the existing JPS licence allow, the current billing practice of the company, particularly concerning customers without power still being billed, comes across as “uncaring and tone deaf”.

He highlighted the plight of a JPS customer who was given a hefty bill, yet did not have power for the current billing cycle and did not get re-energised until two days after the end of the billing cycle.

“It was concerning to note that the customer was given a bill totalling approximately $108,000. This was a customer in St Elizabeth, the most severely affected parish, and within one of the most severely affected communities. The Government is resolute that the current situation cannot stand. I’ve made the position clear to the leadership of the JPS and will be making recommendations to the Cabinet for changes to be made in respect to the regulator,” said a militant Vaz.

He told the media briefing that, in its latest update, JPS said that over the past week it has restored 7,000 customers in St Elizabeth, and that as of Tuesday evening only 3,247 customers remained without electricity, with 34,549 customers already restored within the parish.

The minister pointed out that JPS said that it continues to navigate factors such as the weather and the terrain, but remains on track to meet its commitment to the Government to achieve full restoration of electricity services by August 31.

Vaz also indicated that, in recognition of the challenges faced by many Jamaicans after the hurricane and the higher bills now being seen, JPS has extended the suspension of its disconnection process for non-payment of bills from August 15 to September 15.

He said that JPS will continue to facilitate flexible payment plans for customers who need more time to pay with requests being dealt with on a case-by-case basis.

JPS customers can make requests for payment plans through the JPS mobile app, or by calling its customer care centre.