Utilities pay out over $45 million to customers for breaches
KINGSTON, Jamaica – Over $45 million dollars was paid out to utility customers between April and June of this year as a result of breaches of the Guaranteed Standards (GS), as well as through the Office of Utilities Regulation’s (OUR) direct intervention on behalf of consumers.
This information is contained in the latest Quarterly Performance Report (QPR) which covers the April – June 2023 quarter and which is prepared by OUR’s Consumer Affairs Unit.
Through the OUR’s intervention, $468,781.66 was secured for utility consumers. Of this sum, the National Water Commission (NWC) and the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) accounted for $440,032.09 (94%) and $21,028.99 (4%), respectively. The remaining two per cent was shared between Cable & Wireless Jamaica (C&WJ) (Flow) and Columbus Communications (Flow).
Based on the report, the JPS compliance report on its GS performance for the review period indicated that 20,894 breaches were committed, representing a 29 per cent decrease when compared with the preceding period.
“These breaches attracted compensatory payments of approximately $43.55 million, all of which were applied automatically to the affected customers’ accounts. These Guaranteed Standards payments related to breaches for estimated bills (which restricts JPS to only sending two consecutive bills based on estimated readings without a penalty), reconnection (which requires that JPS restores supply within 24 hours of payment of overdue amounts) and connection to supply (which prescribes the time within which JPS is to make a simple connection),” it said.
The OUR added that the NWC’s GS compliance report for the review period indicated that 1,786 breaches were committed, representing an 11 per cent decrease when compared with the preceding period.
“These breaches had a potential payout of approximately $8 million, while actual payments amounted to approximately $1.46 million, or 18 per cent of total potential payments, and were made by way of automatic credits to the affected accounts. The remaining 82 per cent of potential payments not made represented those breaches for which the required claim forms were not submitted for validation. The standards with the highest incidents of breaches for the NWC were: complaint investigations (which require that the NWC completes investigations and responds or provides an update within 30 working days of receipt of a complaint), meter repair/replacement (which stipulates that defective meters are to be verified, repaired/replaced within 20 working days); and access/new service connection (which requires NWC to connect a new supply within 10 working days),” the report stated.
The OUR’s QPR covering the April-June 2023 quarter can be found on its website: www.our.org.jm.