THE Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) has sought to assure the public that it is on track to fully restore power to customers in St Elizabeth who have been without electricity since the passage of Hurricane Beryl on July 3, despite the Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) expressing doubts that the August 31 deadline will be met.

It is scepticism shared by Energy Minister Daryl Vaz, who has been critical of JPS’s slow pace of restoration islandwide and has been scathing in pointing out that JPS has missed every restoration deadline.

In a media release on Sunday, the light and power company said it is “now on the verge of completing the power restoration of customers in St Elizabeth, as the August 31 deadline approaches”.

However, according to the OUR’s Manager for Engineering and Technical Analysis Courtney Francis, meeting that deadline is doubtful.

“In our view, based on what we’ve observed, we don’t think it is impossible, but we think it’s a challenge,” he said at a Jamaica Observer Press Club on Friday.

The speculation as to whether JPS will achieve the deadline is mainly due to the fact that the company has indicated that it is not just repairing systems in St Elizabeth, but rebuilding them, which takes time.

In light of this, OUR’s Director General Ansord Hewitt said the regulator asked JPS to state whether this August 31st date is an outside date, “and they said, we have examined our capacity and we are convinced that we can get it done by the 31st”.

FRANCIS… in our view, based on what we’ve observed, we don’t think it is impossible, but we think it’s a challenge.

“It is not a deadline that we have set; it is their deadline. We have asked them to interrogate it,” he said.

Displeased with the pace of restoration and missed deadlines, two weeks ago Vaz demanded that the JPS urgently provide a schedule of post-Hurricane Beryl electricity restoration for the remaining communities without power, after the company failed to meet the August 12 deadline for full restoration in 13 parishes.

Vaz made the call as he chastised the light and power company for not achieving full restoration by the agreed deadline in all parishes, except for parts of St Elizabeth for which the timeline was revised to August 31.

The JPS, in a subsequent release, said its restoration efforts saw the return to normalcy for all parishes, except St Elizabeth. It said there were a few isolated outages remaining, mainly in the parishes of Westmoreland, Manchester and rural St Andrew, due to access challenges including landslides, blocked roads, damaged bridges and dangerous terrain, which have delayed the restoration process.

In a release last Thursday, the OUR said that it was continuing to engage with JPS to ensure that the restoration activities in St Elizabeth are expedited and that all customers are restored to the grid.

“JPS’s latest report to the OUR – dated August 21 – indicates that between August 19-20, 34,549 (91.4 per cent) of its St Elizabeth customers now have their electricity supply, with 3,247 unrestored. There are still 37 customers in pockets of communities in Westmoreland, Manchester, Clarendon, Portland, and St Thomas who JPS claims are awaiting the resolution of specific obstructions to have their supplies restored,” the OUR said.

The OUR said then that JPS maintains that it is on track to complete full restoration in the parish by the deadline. The agency said, however, that the light and power company has also reported that it has faced challenges caused by adverse weather conditions.

“While not taking up the OUR’s recommendation to provide specific restoration dates for each location, the company said that it has integrated an external liaison within its incident command structure to engage daily with key stakeholders including members of Parliament, mayors, community leaders, and disaster planning coordinators in the parish, ensuring customers are updated on the restoration progress in their respective communities,” the OUR said.

Meanwhile, in its release on Sunday, JPS said it is asking customers in St Elizabeth to ensure that their premises are fit and ready to receive electricity.

“That is, they should have their pothead and meter stand or stanchion in proper condition to receive connection from the power utility,” JPS said.

The company also noted that as part of its verification exercise, it is also asking customers in St Elizabeth who are in an area where power has been restored and they are still without power from the passage of Hurricane Beryl, to contact them immediately. It said this approach is being taken as an added layer of confirmation to ensure that no customer is inadvertently omitted.

“The company has been working to rebuild sections of the St Elizabeth network and has moved manpower from across the island to escalate the rate of repairs in the parish. Following full restoration of customers, JPS will continue works in the parish to redesign, upgrade and rebuild sections of the distribution network,” the release said.

JPS is asking customers in St Elizabeth to ensure their premises are fit and ready to receive electricity