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Parade Gardens social project gets $7-m DBJ support

June 19, 2015 Webmaster

A $21.5 million social intervention project, the ‘Empowering Parade Gardens, Kingston, Through Renewable Energy Skills Training’, has benefited from an input of approximately $7 million from the Development Bank of Jamaica (DBJ).

The DBJ and Jamaica’s Environmental Health Foundation (EHF) — the implementing agency — have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU), under which the bank will make the contribution to the project aimed at empowering the downtown Kingston community, which includes volatile areas such as Southside and Tel-a-Viv in Kingston Central.

“The deal will ensure that the skill sets of 90 residents of Parade Gardens are developed by means of behavioural change workshops and certified skills training in renewable technologies, food preparation, as well as driving lessons to secure driver’s licences and employment opportunities,” EHF CEO Novlet Deans told the MoU signing ceremony on June 4.

She said that the project will also include outfitting the Parade Gardens Community Centre with a 10KW solar power system and LED lighting, along with 35 households in the community being outfitted with LED lighting.

The EHF was invited to implement the project by the Planning Institute of Jamica (PIOJ), which is the implementing agency for the government’s Community Renewal Programme.

Managing Director of the DBJ Milverton Reynolds said that the aim is to empower residents to improve their circumstances and contribute to the country’s development.

“We believe there is bound to be a positive developmental impact from this intervention. At the end of this one-year programme, the young people will have skills which will be certified by HEART Trust/NTA,” he said.

Reynolds also noted that with the new skills and certifications, residents of the community “will become socially responsible citizens, participating fully in the life of the country and contributing their fair share of the taxes that help to improve the roads, education and health care”.

Vice-president, Parade Gardens Community Centre, Shaka Payne, also welcomed the intervention and said that equipping the community centre with energy-efficient technologies will lower the energy bill by at least 70 per cent.

“This will also aid in keeping us off an overwhelming statistic of community centres across Jamaica that have closed down because of inability to pay utility bills and maintenance,” he said.

The project aims to build the community’s capacity for climate change mitigation, as well as complement climate change adaptation strategies and improve the residents’ employability.

The project will also provide certified skills training to 30 residents of the community, with specific focus on youth. Of the 30, 10 will be trained in renewable energy technologies, focusing on solar PV system installation, operation and maintenance; 10 in food preparation, levels 1 and 2 (an already established livelihood in the community); and 10 are to receive driving lessons toward securing a general driver’s licence, which is a prerequisite for many employment opportunities.

The renewable energy training will be done in collaboration with the Caribbean Maritime Institute, while the food preparation training will be conducted by HEART Trust/NTA. Additionally, behaviour change workshops and training sessions (non-certified) will be held with the wider community on renewable energy, energy efficiency, career development and entrepreneurship.

The project will facilitate the formulation of strategic partnerships with public and private sector agencies to ensure the success of the programme.

The organisations forming the Project Steering Committee are the Parade Gardens Community Development Committee (programme coordinators on this project), Caribbean Maritime Institute, Planning Institute of Jamaica, HEART Trust/NTA, Citizens Security & Justice Programme (CSJP), Social Development Commission and EHF.

Last year residents of Parade Gardens benefited from a new $39-million community centre, construction of which was spearheaded by Jamaica Social Investment Fund , with support from the European Union under its Poverty Reduction Programme.

The centre boasts a computer laboratory, designated classroom area, meeting room, kitchen, and sanitary facilities. The CSJP provided furniture costing $800,000.

Electricity Energy Saving JPS News

Rural Electrification Programme renamed

June 19, 2015 Webmaster

KINGSTON, Jamaica (JIS) –The Government has changed the name and mandate of the Rural Electrification Programme (REP), to the National Energy Solution Company Limited (NESCL), with an expanded role to achieve energy efficiency.

Making the disclosure, Minister of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining Phillip Paulwell said the company, while bringing electricity to the 2.5 per cent of the island that is without the commodity, will also play a major role to reduce energy losses.

He noted that thousands of houses across the island are not properly wired, and working with the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS), and the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF), the problem will be finally solved.

“The NESCL is going to take that on. We are going to be working with the JPS (to cover) over 100 communities indentified by JSIF, where we have to do regularisation,” the minister said, while addressing the opening of an energy forum today at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in New Kingston.

“My role is to ensure that when we go through communities, we do not see this phenomenon. It is dangerous, it causes fires, deaths, and we are going to regularise the situation, once and for all,” Paulwell emphasised.

The minister also pointed out that much of the services offered by the Government Electricity Inspectors (GEIs) will be privatised, so that persons can get timely certification to access regular electricity.

The workshop is being held over three days, and will hear from representatives from six countries on their experiences to reduce energy losses.

Partners in the workshop are the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Office of Utilities Regulation, and the JPS.

The REP was incorporated in 1975, with the specific mandate to expand the reach of electricity supply to rural areas, where the provision of such services would not be economically viable for commercial providers of electricity.

It constructs electrical distribution pole line in electrified areas and provides house wiring assistance through a loan programme to householders.

Electricity JPS News

Light Bills To Increase For Thousands Of Consumers

June 19, 2015 Webmaster

Thousands of Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) customers can expect to see an increase in their electricity bills this month as the general consumption tax (GCT) on residential use is now in effect.

The tax, which became effective on May 1, will begin to show on customers’ bills as this month’s bill will be based on energy consumption in May.

The standard 16.5 per cent tax will only affect residents who use more than 350 kilowatt-hours (kWh) for the month.

One kilowatt-hour equates to 1,000 watts being utilised per hour and everyday household appliances such as bulbs use approximately 100 watts per hour while air-conditioning units use 3,500 watts per hour (or 3.5kWh).

Gct Reinstatement

Finance Minister Dr Peter Phillips had indicated, during his contribution to the 2015-2016 Budget Debate, that GCT would be reinstated on residential electricity consumption, after being suspended in 2010, as part of the Government’s revenue measures.

In a PricewaterhouseCoopers’ report titled ‘Jamaica: 2015-16 Budget: Tightening the Tax Net – Spreading the Burden’, it was stated that the measure would promote greater energy conservation and assist in reducing the country’s oil importation bill.

The Jamaica Public Service said on Thursday that consumers would only be taxed for the kWh they use in excess of 350kWh, meaning if a customer is billed for 400kWh of energy consumption, only 50kWh would have GCT applied to it.

Customers will be able to see the tax as it will be a separate line item on the bill.

The JPS estimates that just over 30,000, or approximately six per cent, of its customers will be affected by the tax on electricity usage above the 350kWh level.

Electricity Energy Saving Government JPS News

President Obama to help Caribbean reduce energy cost

June 19, 2015 Webmaster

KINGSTON, Jamaica – United States President Barack Obama says he is pleased with the level of talks between himself and Prime Minister, Portia Simpson Miller this morning, on a range of issues including security, energy and economic growth.

In his statement issued at the Office of the Prime Minister Wednesday following a bilateral meeting, the US president said energy was one of the main areas discussed as well as his country’s role in helping Jamaica and other Caribbean states reduce costs associated with it.

“People in the Caribbean despite having less resources, are paying significantly higher prices for energy. If we can lower those costs through the development of clean energy and increased energy efficiency, we could release a whole host of additional investment and growth. There are going to be a whole host of areas where the US can be helpful,” he said.

The commitment comes, even as Venezuela, backed by 29 countries, including four Caricom states, signed a letter which it issued to the United States embassy in that country, and which was carried in one local newspaper, calling on the president to withdraw the executive order which the White House issued earlier this month, labelling the oil-rich South American country a threat, and imposing new sanctions against it.

A number of Caricom countries, including Jamaica, now enjoy preferential arrangements through the PetroCaribe Agreement, under which they are allowed to buy oil from Venezuela, and repay a percentage of the cost up front. In Jamaica’s case, the balance must be repaid over 21 years, at one per cent interest. But, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has cautioned such countries that there could be a negative impact on their economies if Venezuela’s external liquidity problems escalate.

In the meantime Jamaica’s prime minister said within the context of the government’s extended fund facility with the IMF, the leaders had “explored additional ways of imploring our trade and economic relations”, including in the area of energy security and renewable energy.

She also pointed out that one of the outcomes of the visit was the signing of a statement of intent between the countries, to pursue the development and deployment of energy-related technologies.

“We aim to encourage increased bilateral trade, boost the development of emerging technologies and industries and pave the way for future innovation in energy-related fields,” she said.

The US President leaves the island later today for the Seventh Summit of the Americas, in Panama.

Alphea Saunders

Electricity JPS News

NWC Says Energy Savings Passed On To Water Customers

March 8, 2015 Webmaster

The state-owned National Water Commission (NWC), Jamaica’s largest consumer of electricity, said that savings from its energy bill are being passed on to consumers.

Lower oil prices has resulted in cheaper electricity bills from Jamaica Public Service Company. NWC’s monthly bill has fallen to about $400 million at present.

“Yes, the NWC has been positively impacted by the reduction in oil prices. Our bills from JPS have gone down to just over $400 million per month, whereas before it was hovering above $500 million per month and in some instances it had exceeded $600 million,” Charles Buchanan, public relations manager at the NWC told Sunday Business.

Buchanan said that for most of calendar year 2014 the NWC, and by extension its customers, would not have benefited from the reduction in energy prices because for most of that time electricity rates were still very high. However, both the company and consumers started seeing the benefits since November 2014.

Buchanan explained that there is a mechanism built into the NWC’s tariff which is adjusted based on changes in the company’s three most significant costs: the cost of energy based on the electricity bills, the foreign exchange rate given that about 70 per cent of its operations involves purchases of items such as chlorine, fittings and meters; and the Consumer Price Index, which relates to other inputs.

“Those three things together are considered under the Price Adjustment Mechanism which customers see on their bills as PAM,” he said.

“Let’s assume that they are all going in the same direction, whenever they change it will cause customers’ bills to change in that same direction.”

Buchanan said each of the three elements are weighted by the Office of Utilities Regulation and that the size of their adjustments would determine the impact on PAM.

“So let’s say the energy price is going down and by itself would result in a reduction in the PAM, but the CPI and the exchange rate are going in the opposite direction, depending on how significant the movements are, whether the exchange rate changes are small or great or whether the energy cost reduction is small or great, as well as the relative weighting of those components it will determine whether PAM comes out on the net as a positive or negative movement,” he said.

Significant Movement

“But I can tell you that the movement in the energy prices has been significant enough to have overcome any other contrary movement in the CPI and or foreign exchange rate over recent months. As a result, for the last few months the price adjustment mechanism for the customers has been beneficial to the customers in the sense that it is represented on their bills as a deduction from their water charges,” he added.

NWC has some 1,000 locations across Jamaica that require electricity.

In 2011, its annual bill to JPS was $5.503 billion; $5.904 billion in 2012; $6.285 billion in 2013, and $6.464 billion in 2014.

“In all instances there was a continuous climb in the dollar value of the energy costs,” said Buchanan.

However, the NWC has put in place energy management initiatives which resulted in its kilowatt per hour usage hovering at around the same place or slightly declining.

For example, in 2011 the NWC’s kilowatt/hour usage of energy was 197.17 million, but it moved downward to 188 million in 2014. “This is despite the fact that we had put in a number of new water supply and waste water systems,” the NWC spokesman said.

Buchanan adds that there was a four per cent decrease in the NWC’s energy consumption in 2014 when measured against 2011. Consequently, the commission was expecting a four per cent reduction in its electricity bill, but instead there was a three per cent increase in the energy cost to the NWC over the period.

Asked about the percentage reduction to customers over the past three months, Buchanan said it was difficult to give a figure due to PAM being a combination of three elements.

“It’s a little complicated to give an exact figure … but definitely the bills have shown declines,” he said.

Jamaica Gleaner

Government

Light For All By 2017

March 3, 2015 Webmaster

Jamaica is to be darkness-free by 2017. Well, almost free of darkness, according to Phillip Paulwell, the energy minister who says the Government is prepared to use solar energy to power houses in remote rural areas that are not currently connected to the grid.

“We expect that, by 2017, some 99.99 per cent of the country will be covered,” Paulwell told The Gleaner yesterday.

At present, 95 per cent of the country is covered, which Paulwell said is due in the main to the role of the Rural Electrification Programme (REP) established in the 1970s.

“We believe that we are in sight of completing the work of REP, based on what we have left to be done. I believe that sometime during this year or the first year during the new term, we will be able to say 99.99 per cent, because you could never get to 100 per cent, has access to electricity,” Paulwell said.

The Government has allocated $374.7 million in this 2015-2016 Budget for the REP to carry out its functions. The target includes the construction of 30 kilometres of pole line extensions in 10 parishes and the wiring of 1,000 houses to facilitate formal contracts with the Jamaica Public Service Company.

Paulwell told The Gleaner yesterday that, by 2017, “we should no longer have REP in the way we do now”, adding that if the Government finds it too challenging to run power lines into communities, it will use solar.

“For those areas that are too far away from the grid, we will be utilising renewable energy. We are going to be putting up solar facilities for the remote areas,” the minister said.

Paulwell said the newly formed National Energy Solutions, the company which is to replace the REP, will be

targeting housing schemes as one area from which it will earn fees for doing installation works.

It is projected that REP will earn $230 million from services this year, and will get another $100 million from the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica.

More Work To Do

“In addition to the extensions that we are doing, we will do those most difficult areas using renewables, but thereafter, the focus of REP will be shifted to an energy-service company, and among their main duties will be to explore the possibility of assembling solar PV (photovoltaic) systems in Jamaica and also to assist with dealing with the theft of electricity and the regularisation of those areas where theft is very pronounced. A lot of the houses need to be wired and certified properly; we are going to give them that mandate,” he added.

But even as the Government prepares to flip the switch on the REP, some rural members of parliament believe that the entity still has a bit of work to do.

“From 2007, I have done about five REP projects. I have about five or six pending, plus new ones that have come in that have not been submitted as yet,” West Portland MP Daryl Vaz told The Gleaner. “I have always felt that REP is one of the best government interventions because of the number of people’s lives it impacts.”

Vaz said the five projects implemented cost $12 million, $5 million of which was contributed from his Constituency Development Fund.

Vaz further said that another 11 projects are pending, six of which, the REP said, would require funding of $9 million. The other five are awaiting estimates.

The MP said that this year’s allocation, which is way above the $231 million provided in the current fiscal year, is a drop in the bucket, arguing that when the Jamaica Labour Party formed the administration between 2007 to 2011, there was a major problem finding money to fund projects.

“The demand is so much more than the budgetary allocation. I would love to accept Minister Paulwell’s projection of 2017, but I don’t see it [as] possible. I don’t think it is realistic, unless it is that they have found some money somewhere,” Vaz said.

Paulwell said the projects that are now being done are “remote, very far from the grid”.

“Some years ago, when we did an electricity ceremony to turn on electricity, one project would have 500 customers. But now because of the remoteness of them, for one project you have 10, 15 customers because they are so dispersed in remote areas,” he explained.

But Dorrett Abrahams, who resides in the beachfront community of Albion Heights, which lies between Yallahs, St Thomas, and Bull Bay, St Andrew, said that despite the area being part of a development which began in the 1960s, residents are yet to get electricity.

“There is no electricity there, and we are talking about 2015,” she said. “REP came through and they said the the ground is tough and stony and that it is going to cost a lot of money to carry the electricity and they don’t have any money,” she added.

JamaicaGleaner

Government

Jamaican Government Prepared to use solar energy to power houses in remote rural areas

March 3, 2015 Webmaster

“We expect that, by 2017, some 99.99 per cent of the country will be covered,” Paulwell told The Gleaner yesterday.

At present, 95 per cent of the country is covered, which Paulwell said is due in the main to the role of the Rural Electrification Programme (REP) established in the 1970s.

Paulwell told The Gleaner yesterday that, by 2017, “we should no longer have REP in the way we do now”, adding that if the Government finds it too challenging to run power lines into communities, it will use solar.

See more details at jamaica-gleaner.com

Videos

NASA | SDO: Year 5

February 21, 2015 Webmaster

February 11, 2015 marks five years in space for NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, which provides incredibly detailed images of the whole sun 24 hours a day. Capturing an image more than once per second, SDO has provided an unprecedentedly clear picture of how massive explosions on the sun grow and erupt ever since its launch on Feb. 11, 2010. The imagery is also captivating, allowing one to watch the constant ballet of solar material through the sun’s atmosphere, the corona.

In honor of SDO’s fifth anniversary, NASA has released a video showcasing highlights from the last five years of sun watching. Watch the movie to see giant clouds of solar material hurled out into space, the dance of giant loops hovering in the corona, and huge sunspots growing and shrinking on the sun’s surface.

The imagery is an example of the kind of data that SDO provides to scientists. By watching the sun in different wavelengths – and therefore different temperatures – scientists can watch how material courses through the corona, which holds clues to what causes eruptions on the sun, what heats the sun’s atmosphere up to 1,000 times hotter than its surface, and why the sun’s magnetic fields are constantly on the move.

Five years into its mission, SDO continues to send back tantalizing imagery to incite scientists’ curiosity. For example, in late 2014, SDO captured imagery of the largest sun spots seen since 1995 as well as a torrent of intense solar flares. Solar flares are bursts of light, energy and X-rays. They can occur by themselves or can be accompanied by what’s called a coronal mass ejection, or CME, in which a giant cloud of solar material erupts off the sun, achieves escape velocity and heads off into space. In this case, the sun produced only flares and no CMEs, which, while not unheard of, is somewhat unusual for flares of that size. Scientists are looking at that data now to see if they can determine what circumstances might have led to flares eruptions alone.

Goddard built, operates and manages the SDO spacecraft for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington, D.C. SDO is the first mission of NASA’s Living with a Star Program. The program’s goal is to develop the scientific understanding necessary to address those aspects of the sun-Earth system that directly affect our lives and society.

This video is public domain and can be downloaded at: http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/goto?11742

Like our videos? Subscribe to NASA’s Goddard Shorts HD podcast:
http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/iTunes/f…

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http://www.facebook.com/NASA.GSFC

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JPS News

OUR directs JPS to refund customers J$973 m

February 17, 2015 Webmaster

KINGSTON, Jamaica – The Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) says it has directed the Jamaica Public Service Company Limited (JPS) to refund to customers over J$973 million that it unilaterally imposed as foreign exchange adjustments on fuel supplied by Petrojam Limited from March to December 2013.

The directive, which is effective February 16, 2015, was issued following consultations with JPS. The sum taken from customers, totalling J$973,372,164.14, was in contravention of Exhibit 2, Schedule 3 of the Amended and Restated All-Island Electric Licence, 2011.

JPS has been directed to submit, within seven days from the effective date of the directive, details of how it proposes to effect the repayment, including the commencement date by which the refund will be made to customers, OUR explained in a release.

Customers are to be fully refunded within six months of the effective date of the directive, the organisation said.

OUR noted that the directive follows a decision taken by JPS to pass through to customers, foreign exchange adjustments on payments for fuel supplied by Petrojam Limited, from March to December 2013.

This was done without any approval by the OUR.

The OUR requested clarification from the JPS regarding the inclusion of a line item called “FX adj on Petrojam Fuel” in the fuel oil statements for the relevant period.

During the period, this impacted the fuel and IPP charge which appears as a line item on customers’ bills.

The OUR said that having received JPS’ explanation for making the adjustments, considered the matter and concluded that JPS had no authority under the existing regulatory framework to unilaterally impose the additional costs on customers.

The OUR said it will continue to be vigilant in safeguarding the interest of consumers, while ensuring an equitable environment for investors in our utility services.

JamaicaGleaner

Alternative Energy Government News Solar Energy

Electricity tribunal trashes wheeling charges

February 6, 2015 Webmaster

OUR still deciding whether to appeal or redesign programme

Avia Collinder, Business Reporter

Jamaica’s electricity tribunal has effectively sent utilities regulator, OUR, back to the drawing board to redesign the pricing structure plan for the wheeling of power through Jamaica Public Service Company’s network.

The Office of Utilities Regulation has said it may appeal the ruling.

JPS had contested the wheeling prices set by the OUR as inadequate and in breach of its licence, and Chairman of the Electricity Appeals Tribunal, Justice Paul Harrison, issued a ruling in November 2014 that sided with the power utility. Justice Harrison described the pricing structure as ‘irrational and flawed’.

OUR had intended to introduce electricity wheeling in 2013, but the programme was put on hold after JPS’ legal challenge.

The regulatory agency said this week that it was still reviewing the tribunal’s decision but expected to wrap up the assessment by the end of March.

Essentially, JPS had argued that wheeling prices should be set around the same time as the rate determination for electricity charges – the latter was decided last month – having noted that the 2013 wheeling rates were based on stale data.

JPS also argued that the approved wheeling charges were in breach of Condition 12 of its licence, neither were they guided by the cost of service study (COSS) conducted by the power utility.

“We are still assessing the effect and implications of the ruling,” Ansord Hewitt, the OUR’s director of regulation, policy, monitoring and enforcement, told the Financial Gleaner.

The review will determine the regulator’s next step.

“If, for example, it decides to appeal the decision then the status quo remains,” said Hewitt. “On the other hand, if it decides not to appeal the next step is to direct JPS to do a cost of service study stipulating the framework for it. We will have another round of consultations, then determine a system including charges and, thereafter, implement,” he said.

Though a number of local com-panies have expressed interest in wheeling electricity, no applications have been made so far to the OUR.

As defined in the text of the Tribunal’s decision: “Wheeling is a method by which a grid operator, for a price, allows another party to send electrical energy over the grid operator’s transmission and distribution system, from a location at which the party generates the energy, to a location where it will be consumed.”

The wheeling regime was introduced in Jamaica by the amendment of Condition 12 of JPS’s licence in 2011.

To qualify for a wheeling licence, lasting 10 years, the applicant must be a self-generator with consumption facilities of 25kVA.

The OUR in 2013 determined annual wheeling rates at an average of US$105,312 per MW for primary distribution and US$53,545 for secondary distribution on a non-locational basis.

The regulator also estimated rates for 14 actual JPS customers at different locations across Jamaica, which ranged between US$83,100 per MW and US$629,900 per MW.

JPS argued on appeal that the wheeling charges were not consistent with the existing tariffs and price controls, in that the charges would not be revenue neutral to the utility. It also objected to the OUR’s use of a Modern Equivalent Asset Valuation model for setting wheeling rates, instead of actual costs, and argued that the structure created by OUR would result in tariffs that discriminate by location.

The Electricity Appeals Tribunal, after hearing from expert witnesses on both sides, ruled “the OUR acted unlawfully in producing its own COSS [cost of service study], albeit with some 2009 data from JPS, in breach of Condition 12 and therefore, in that respect, its determination is flawed”.

Harrison ruled that the OUR’s decision not to consider JPS’ COSS data, which was available to it in June 2013, a month before its wheeling determination, was “irrational”.

He further noted that the OUR, being a statutory authority with powers and functions conferred by law and the power utility’s licence, could not “arrogate to itself powers that are not conferred on it”, and that it had no common law powers nor a legal basis or authority to conduct its own COSS.

Additionally, the wheeling charges proposed by the regulator were “not consistent with tariffs and the price controls as approved by the OUR,” said Justice Harrison.

“… It was irrational for the OUR to issue the Determination Notice for the reason that it did. The said notice is accordingly flawed and irrational,” he said.

avia.collinder@gleanerjm.com

Jamaica Gleaner

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