OPPOSITION spokesperson on energy and climate change Phillip Paulwell has dismissed as “absolute nonsense” critics’ claims that he should be blamed for the recent furore concerning the performance of Jamaica Public Service Company Limited (JPS), particularly in the aftermath of Hurricane Beryl.

Paulwell, who has openly chastised the light and power company for the quality of its service, has been coming under heavy criticism from the public, who claim he has no moral ground on which to now castigate the company given that he approved JPS’s exclusive licence in 2016.

The public uproar has centred on the perceived lack of accountability on the part of JPS due to limited regulations and sanctions for breaches of the licence.

Among his main critics is Energy Minister Daryl Vaz, who in response to Paulwell’s call last week for the JPS to immediately withdraw all bills amidst reported exorbitant charges, said the former energy minister should not be speaking on the matter given his history.

“After suing Jamaicans who challenged the legality of the 20-year JPS all-island exclusive licence… Paulwell has a nerve,” Vaz wrote on
X. “Reminder that your name is fixed in ink on the very license you are criticising Mr Paulwell.”

But Paulwell told the Jamaica Observer on Sunday that the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Government in 2011 signed a licence with JPS which has identical provisions as the 2016 licence he signed, “but only that there were some significant improvements”.

“There’s nothing in the 2016 licence that wasn’t in the 2011 licence, save and except for better features to protect the Jamaican consumer,” he said, adding that the provisions which grant certain privileges to the JPS were already in the previous agreement.

Paulwell pointed out that among the improved features was the incorporation of regulations for net billing, which allows individuals to generate their own electricity and sell back to the grid; and power wheeling which was to allow companies to generate their own electricity and be able to connect to the grid.

“The licence that I signed also provided automatic compensation by JPS to customers for breach of guarantees or overall standards. [In addition] the 2016 licence sought to bring on board a number of benefits [which included] the mandate for the use of LED lamps for street lighting which should have seen a fall by 50 per cent of the price of street lights. I don’t think the Government has been able to achieve that since we left office,” he said.

Listing other improvements, Paulwell pointed to the formulation of a book of codes generation, transmission, distribution, dispatch and supply codes, noting that previously, only the generation code was referenced. He noted as well that, there was a lowering of the threshold to prosecute electricity theft and increased fines as penalties for such offences.

Paulwell said a revenue cap principle was also introduced which looks forward at five-year intervals, which also includes decoupling of kilowatt-hour sales and the approved revenue requirement — as different from the previous price cap principle. Further, he said the company was separated into discrete business units — generation, transmission, distribution, dispatch and supply — for efficiency, transparency, and easier regulation.

But, among the other critics, Young Jamaica, the JLP’s youth arm, laid blame squarely at the feet of Paulwell for the “oppressive JPS conduct” as a result of regulatory limitations.

“We do expect the Opposition spokesman to take full responsibility for the JPS’s poor service delivery and unduly onerous and oppressive conduct to the public. The JPS licence, which was approved by Paulwell in 2016 under the PNP Administration, expires in 2027. The current regulatory limitations and inadequate remedies for breaches under the current licence are all the prerogative of Paulwell and the former People’s National Party Government,” the entity said in a statement last Tuesday.

Young Jamaica said it supports the JLP Government’s current efforts, through Vaz, to get the independent regulatory body, the Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) to hold the JPS to greater account within the ambits of the law.

“We have confidence in the JLP Administration to devise a more structured and practical licence arrangement for the JPS in the near future,” the group said.

For its part, the OUR has lamented the failure of successive administrations to grant its request for legislative changes that would allow it to directly sanction utility companies which fail to obey the rules.

Like Paulwell, the entity has also faced strong criticisms in recent weeks for its failure to hold JPS to account for its failure to speedily restore power in some communities as well as the issuing of unusually high electricity bills.

Among the strongest critics of the regulator has been Vaz, who raised concerns regarding the efficacy of the oversight being provided by the OUR in respect to JPS.

Vaz has also hinted at legislative changes to give the Government more leeway to take action against utility providers in the aftermath of a natural disaster.

But addressing a Jamaica Observer Press Club last Friday, OUR Director General Ansord Hewitt said some of the calls for action by the regulator are expecting more than it can deliver.

Vaz shared this image of the the license Paulwell signed in 2016.

Paulwell said the licence he signed also provided automatic compensation by JPS to customers for breach of guarantees or overall standards.