KINGSTON, Jamaica – The Consumer Affairs Unit (CAU) of the Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) has, through its intervention, secured about $6.3 million for utility customers.

This is reflected in OUR’s Quarterly Performance Report for 2025 January- March.

The compensation comprises previously unreported credits to customer accounts in earlier periods plus  $3.21 million relating to payments made in the January to March quarter.  Payments by JPS accounted for $4.15m, or 66 per cent, and NWC for $1.38m, or 22 per cent of this total. Columbus Communications (Flow), C&WJ (Flow), and Digicel accounted for $425,475.49 (7 per cent), $259,312.94 (4 per cent), and $50,519.47 (1 per cent), respectively.

An additional $62.1 million compensation was also made by way of credit to customer bills by the Jamaica Public Service Company Limited (JPS) and the National Water Commission (NWC)  for breaches of the Guaranteed Standards (GS) for the quarter.

JPS’s compliance report on its GS performance for the review period indicated that 25,043 breaches were committed, representing a 5 per cent decrease compared to the preceding quarter. These breaches attracted compensatory payments of approximately $56.7 million, all of which were applied automatically to the affected customers’ accounts.

The NWC’s Guaranteed Standards compliance report for the review period indicates that 3,808 breaches were committed during the review period, representing a 23 per cent increase over the preceding period. These breaches had a potential payout of approximately $17.9 million, while actual payments amounted to approximately $5.4 million, or 30 per cent of total potential payments, and were made through automatic credits to the affected accounts. The remaining 70 per cent of potential payments not made include those breaches for which the affected customers did not submit the required claim forms for validation.

Additionally, Small Water and Sewerage Service Provider Can-Cara Development Limited committed four breaches of its GS for which compensation of $16,716.16 was automatically applied to the affected customer’s account.

During the 2025 January – March quarter, there was an 8 per cent reduction in the number of contacts the OUR’s Consumer Affairs Unit received.  The most significant decrease was in the category of Interruption of Service which went down by 45 per cent.

At 51 per cent, billing matters remained the main reason utility consumers contacted the CAU, with JPS (25 per cent) and NWC (21 per cent) accounting for the highest number of such concerns.

The OUR’s latest QPR can be found on its website: www.our.org.jm.