‘That hurts my heart’
JPS boss confirms arrest over power restoration bribes
Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) President and Chief Executive Officer Hugh Grant has confirmed that an arrest has already been made following reports that individuals had been soliciting illegal payments from customers during post-hurricane power restoration.
Grant made the disclosure while addressing the Public Administration and Appropriations Committee (PAAC) on Tuesday as legislators questioned the utility firm about allegations that residents were being asked to pay to have their electricity restored in the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa which hit Jamaica last October.
“When you say that workmen request to be paid, that hurts my heart during this unprecedented time of hardship. We have that going on,” Grant expressed to the committee.
He stressed that JPS has a zero-tolerance policy towards such behaviour and moved swiftly once the matter came to its attention.
“What I will share with you is that just recently we made an arrest. This is something we have zero tolerance for, and all I ask is that if anyone has information, give me a lead and I guarantee you we will have our security forces out there and we will ensure that we do right by the law,” he added.
Grant explained that the company has intensified its monitoring and enforcement efforts since the hurricane, as thousands of customers awaited restoration of electricity following widespread damage to the national grid.
He noted that JPS has been actively warning customers that no payment is required for restoration work and that anyone demanding money is acting illegally.
“We have done town criers, we have done texts, we have also sent out our security forces… in many operations and the good news is just recently, this particular week, we made an arrest and we’ll be out there only amplifying the efforts around that because it’s very unfortunate and it’s disheartening that that is happening,” he said.
Grant clarified that the arrested individual was not a JPS employee, further noting that the company continues to work closely with law enforcement to identify and prosecute offenders.
The revelation comes amid widespread frustration following prolonged outages caused by Hurricane Melissa, which damaged power infrastructure across several parishes and left tens of thousands of customers without electricity for extended periods.
