KINGSTON, Jamaica— Anticipating that its electricity grid will be impacted by the approaching Hurricane Melissa, resulting in power outages, Jamaica Public Service (JPS) has formally requested force majeure from Energy Minister Daryl Vaz, under the terms of its licence.

This is a signal that JPS will be unable to fulfill the requirements of its licence, if its electricity grid is severely impacted by the coming weather event.

“It is a contract clause that relieves a party from fulfilling their obligations when an extraordinary event beyond their control, such as a natural disaster makes performance impossible,” said Vaz.

He was addressing a special press briefing at the emergency operations centre of the Office of Disaster Preparedness (ODPEM) at ODPEM’s Haining Road headquarters on Sunday.

Vaz added that, “In essence, the licence has certain conditionalities and in order for them to be relaxed, in order for them to respond, they require the Government of Jamaica who gave them the licence in the first place, to sign a force majeure.

“ I can state categorically that this will not be held up, I have already referred it to the Attorney General’s Chambers and I am prepared to sign it as early as possible, even prior to the strike [from Melissa]”.

“You can rest assured that JPS will not be hindered by the conditionalities of their existing contract,” Vaz emphasised.