The decision by Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) to close 10 of its 15 commercial offices across the island between 2020 and 2021 has resulted in many of its customers incurring up to $1,000 in additional transportation costs and 50 minutes of travel time to access the nearest office.

These are among the findings of a two-part impact assessment study conducted by the Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) which said it shared the results with the company in May.

At the same time, the regulator admitted that it is powerless to force JPS to reopen the offices.

“They say time is money and, as you would imagine, for customers who live in a parish where the JPS office is closed, they would incur longer travel times to get to a JPS office. The research found that it took those customers at least 50 minutes [to travel to the next available office] and this is against the 10 minutes that it takes customers who live in a parish where the office remains open,” Collette Goode, consumer affairs policy specialist at the OUR, said on Tuesday during a webinar hosted by the regulator at which the findings of the study, along with recommendations were released.

Stating that “the average cost for customers to visit a JPS office was $971 or approximately $1,000”, Goode said 77 per cent of customers surveyed want JPS to reopen the offices.

The energy company had closed its offices in Hanover, Trelawny, Portland, Clarendon, St Thomas, St Mary, St Elizabeth, Westmoreland, Portmore in St Catherine, as well as Kingston and St Andrew at East Parade, downtown Kingston.

The offices that have remained open are located in Kingston and St Andrew (Ruthven Road), St Catherine (Spanish Town), St Ann (St Ann’s Bay), St James (Montego Bay), and Manchester (Mandeville).

Goode noted that the main activities carried out by JPS customers are bill payments, making a complaint, and querying a bill. Customers rated their satisfaction with the channels available to them — JPS Mobile App 87 per cent, in-office 71 per cent, and the online platform 77 per cent. The call centres saw the lowest levels of customer satisfaction, coming in at between 52 per cent and 62 per cent.

Goode told the webinar that for paying bills, customers preferred going to a bill payment agency and this was the channel of choice, regardless of whether a JPS office remained open in their parish.

However, for other activities, such as service application, making a complaint, querying a bill, reconnections or requesting a service disconnection, customers preferred going to the JPS office, whether or not one remained open in their parish.

Of significance is that among customers surveyed, a significant 77 per cent want JPS to reopen its commercial offices. Nine per cent want the JPS to make it easier for them to contact the call centre, while seven per cent want JPS to place smaller offices in existing locations such as supermarkets and post offices.

As to whether the OUR can order JPS to reopen the offices, Goode said, “Unfortunately, no, we can’t do that”. She explained that the closures were an operational decision taken by JPS “and utility regulators generally avoid getting directly involved in those day-to-day decisions of the regulated entities”.

This, Goode said, is done to maintain clear separation of duties while promoting efficiency.

She said the OUR will not micromanage any utility provider, stating that, “essentially our role should be one of oversight and accountability, ensuring that utilities operate in the best interest of consumers and the public”.

The OUR has recommended that JPS undertakes the following:

* Review the spatial distribution of its customer touch points, as having just one in the counties of Cornwall and Surrey is inadequate.

* Develop customer solutions that satisfy face-to-face- customer touch point requests for those services that they prefer to do in office.

* Explore how bill payment agencies can be leveraged as customer touch points.

*Make the My JPS app zero-rated so there is no additional cost (data) incurred by customers.

The energy company was also asked to review the findings and develop an action plan to address the customer feedback and the OUR’s recommendations. The company is required to present its action plan to the OUR no later than November 30 this year.

Meanwhile, director of customer solutions at JPS, Leroy Reid, detailed what the light and power company has been doing, including acting on the OUR’s recommendations, to make its customer experience better.

Reid acknowledged that the decision taken by JPS to close the majority of its commercial offices had resulted in a trust deficit between the utility company and its customers.

He insisted that the company’s digitisation strategy “has been immensely successful”, but said despite that success it created challenges among underserved segments of JPS’s customer base. That segment includes the elderly and people in rural Jamaica who may have problems accessing the Internet.

Reid announced that a partnership between JPS and Supreme Ventures will see 140 locations being made available for customers to pay their JPS bills. Additionally, the JPS Care Hub, that was established inside Fontana Pharmacy in Portmore as a pilot project earlier this year, will be rolled out around the country beginning in St Thomas and St Elizabeth. All services available inside its commercial offices are available at the hub.

“That model is proving to be hugely successful so …we now have a road map in place for the deployment of additional My JPS hubs in parishes where we have no offices,” said Reid.

He explained that the decision by JPS to close the 10 offices was informed by the sharp decline in customer usage in locations like Falmouth, Port Antonio, and Portmore.

“Office visits had dropped to well under 600 customers per month by 2019, which represents less than five per cent of customers in those parishes,” Reid said. “This data, coupled with voice, chat, and the interactive voice response system show that more customers were choosing digital, mobile and third-party options.”

The senior JPS manager said the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the decision to shutter the offices. “So by 2023, approximately 97 per cent of all JPS transactions were conducted by digital channels.”

GOODE… the average cost for customers to visit a JPS office was $971 or approximately $1,000

This file photo shows Hugh Grant (centre), president and CEO of JPS, cutting the ribbon to officially open the My JPS Care Hub at Fontana Portmore. Sharing in the moment are (from left) Leroy Reid, director, Customer Service, JPS; Pia Baker, senior vice-president, Customer Experience and Commercial, JPS; Fiona Johnson, area manager, Customer Service, JPS; and Andrene Powell, floor manager, Fontana Pharmacy.