ST ELIZABETH, Jamaica — Councillors in St Elizabeth are now locked in a closed-door meeting with the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) as they press for updates on power restoration post Hurricane Melissa.

The meeting, which is being held in Santa Cruz, got underway shortly before 1:00 pm with the Chief Executive Officer at JPS, Hugh Grant, expected to make a presentation.

JPS declined to speak with the media on Wednesday. However, a senior communications official at the company promised to provide an update to the press in the coming days.

Councillor Christopher Williams (Jamaica Labour Party, Santa Cruz division) said he remains hopeful that power will be restored to most communities in the coming weeks.

“On Monday, they requested a list of communities that have not been restored with electricity as yet, and we have furnished JPS with that information, so today we are expecting to get some timeline from them as to when electricity will be restored to the majority of the communities,” he said.

“In Santa Cruz, we saw that Main Street, sections of Coke Drive have been restored…Institution Drive, we don’t have electricity down there as yet, and that is very important because the infirmary is located there. Most of our communities in the Santa Cruz division are without electricity. We are talking about communities like Rocky Hill, Park Mountain, Good Hope, Abraham, Burnt Ground, New River and Brighton,” he added.

When asked about the possibility of power restoration being delayed beyond the end of January, Williams said that would be disheartening.

“If we don’t hear that, we will definitely be disappointed. My constituents they have reached out to me occasionally, trying to find out when electricity will be restored, because people have been spending a lot on generators,” he said.

Minority leader and Councillor Donovan Pagon (People’s National Party, Braes River division) shared similar sentiments.

He said, fortunately, communities along the main road leading from Manchester towards Santa Cruz were restored weeks ago.

“The areas that haven’t been restored are Braes River, Elim, Red Ground, George’s Valley, Grosmond, a section of Wilton, Southampton and Northampton. We are hoping to hear good news that by the end of January, those areas mentioned in my division will be restored fully,” he said.

On Tuesday, in updating Parliament on the pace of electricity recovery after Hurricane Melissa, which slammed into Jamaica on October 28, 2025, Energy Minister Daryl Vaz reported that 491,000 of the 542,000 customers who initially lost power have been reconnected, placing national restoration at roughly 92 to 93 per cent.

READ: Darkness vs data

— Kasey Williams