NEGRIL, Westmoreland — Even though the Jamaica Public Service Company Ltd (JPS) was days ahead of its target to get the lights back on in sections of Negril, that was of little comfort to one hotelier whose property is among those in the west end which are still not back on the power company’s grid.

Operator of the Lighthouse Inn on the West End Road in Negril and one of the oldest businessmen in the town, Dalton (Penny) Hill says he and others feel neglected. He is of the view that the tourism industry is one of JPS’s largest customer bases and deserves better service.

“We pay a lot of money to JPS in this town. The West End pays a lot of money. There is no reason why you don’t have a lot of ground men around there doing some work as I speak,” insisted Hill during a JPS media briefing held in Negril on Sunday.

The small hotelier said before the storm, he was paying $150,000 per month in electricity bills.

“We are not going to put up with too much more of this. We are not. We have been disrespected… Many business people in this town know that West End has some of the best places as small properties in Negril,” Hill said.

“I am telling you the truth, if you don’t give us some power you are putting us into bankruptcy. Enough is enough from unuh,” the hotelier added stridently.

However Daniel Grizzle, who operates Charela Inn Hotel in Negril, was not in agreement with Hill’s outburst.

“I also have a property on the West End and I really would love for us to have electricity there. We desperately need it, because we are a part of the [tourism] product, but on the other hand we have to be reasonable. They cannot do it all, even though I would love to have it on the West End so that we don’t have to buy expensive fuel [to power a generator],” Grizzle told the Jamaica Observer following the meeting called to provide updates on the restoration progress and outlook to the business community and other stakeholders.

“What I understand, they are trying hard to reach Savanna-la-Mar for the hospital — and that also is important because any of us could need the facility at the hospital in a life-and-death situation. So, I understand people getting angry but I also see the other side that we should also be grateful for what has been done. I think they have done a fairly good job,” added the respected hotelier and former president of the Negril Chamber of Commerce.

President and CEO of JPS, Hugh Grant said the West End is on the company’s restoration radar. He stressed that the company is currently working to have electricity not only in the West End, but in the entire parish of Westmoreland.

Grant told the meeting that the extent of the damage to the JPS infrastructure has resulted in the company splitting their islandwide network to facilitate the restoration process.

The parishes of Trelawny, St James, Hanover, Westmoreland and St Elizabeth are among the five hardest hit in western Jamaica.

“The team has done some creative work to actually bring power into Negril at this moment in time. And that creative work, let me tell you, is not by chance but directly aligned with our strategy bringing power to our economic centres, commercial centres, hospitals, the National Water Commission, and then we can build out from there,” stated Grant who also pointed to the importance of commerce in providing jobs.

“So the good news is, we had promised that we would bring power into Negril by today [Sunday] and I am pleased to say, as you all know, it was late Thursday night that the team delivered on that promise,” stated Grant.

In explaining how the company was able to bring electricity into Negril and Hanover he cautioned that the company’s network is still vulnerable.

“The reality, however, is that the grid is still in a compromised state. The west is separated from the east. Right now we are literally operating two separate systems, and that is because the transmission line — which is the backbone and high voltage line connecting customers — is actually significantly damaged and has to be out of service,” explained the JPS CEO.

Westmoreland currently has more than 34,000 customers of which some 10 per cent are supplied from the Orange Bay Substation in Hanover. The majority are supplied from the Paradise Substation in Westmoreland. However, that station is currently out of service due to extensive damage from Hurricane Melissa.

Grant explained that the high-power transmission line between St James and Paradise in Westmoreland is currently out of service. The company currently has a little under 200 metal frame towers, of which more than 100 which serve hilly terrains were wrecked.

Grant said the company is currently looking into a creative solution that will connect Paradise to Orange Bay. He said once this is done, along with repairs to the Paradise Substation, the company will be able to start distributing electricity to more customers and critical institutions.

“My commitment to you here in Westmoreland is that we will not stop until every community is powered up,” promised Grant.

Since the passage of the Category 5 storm, which wrecked the grid that is designed for a Category 3 storm, the company has restored 74 per cent of its customers. More than 540,000 customers were out of service, however, to date, some 360,000 customers have been restored, with under 180,000 still without service.

Operator of the Lighthouse Inn on the West End road in Negril and one of the oldest businessmen in the town, Dalton (Penny) Hill says he and others feel neglected (Anthony Lewis)

President and CEO of JPS, Hugh Grant said the West End is on the company’s restoration radar. (Anthony Lewis)

Daniel Grizzle, who operates Charela Inn Hotel in Negril speaks with the Observer on the sidelines of Sunday’s update from the Jamaica Public Service Company Ltd. (Anthony Lewis)