KINGSTON, Jamaica –
KINGSTON, Jamaica –
Jamaica Public Service (JPS) President and CEO Kelly Tomblin yesterday announced the appointment of a Customer Advisory Council that is expected to give the company valuable feedback from its customers.
“It’s important for us to get different perspectives as we work to improve our service,” Tomblin said. “We need to hear from our customers, get their feedback on our service delivery, and explore with them strategies for service improvement. The Customer Advisory Council will therefore be an important avenue for getting regular input from the people we serve.”
The council comprises representatives from a cross-section of interest groups representing both residential and business customers.
They are:
* Camille Needham, executive director, Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association;
* Carrole Guntley, director general, Ministry of Tourism and Entertainment;
* Dr Henley Morgan, chairman, Caribbean Applied Technology Ltd;
* Hermine Metcalfe, Association of Retired Persons of Jamaica;
* Michael McMorris, chairman, VMBS;
* Noel DaCosta, board director, Diageo; chairman, United Way of Jamaica;
* Paul Gray, group division manager, energy and engineering, ATL;
* Pat Ramsay, president, International Women’s Forum Jamaica; and
* Winston Hay, former director general, OUR;
The council, JPS said, will meet regularly with the light and power company’s management to discuss its performance, make recommendations, and gauge its improvements and responsiveness.
Read more:
Jamaica Public Service (JPS) President and CEO Kelly Tomblin yesterday announced the appointment of a Customer Advisory Council that is expected to give the company valuable feedback from its customers.
“It’s important for us to get different perspectives as we work to improve our service,” Tomblin said. “We need to hear from our customers, get their feedback on our service delivery, and explore with them strategies for service improvement. The Customer Advisory Council will therefore be an important avenue for getting regular input from the people we serve.”
The council comprises representatives from a cross-section of interest groups representing both residential and business customers.
They are:
* Camille Needham, executive director, Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association;
* Carrole Guntley, director general, Ministry of Tourism and Entertainment;
* Dr Henley Morgan, chairman, Caribbean Applied Technology Ltd;
* Hermine Metcalfe, Association of Retired Persons of Jamaica;
* Michael McMorris, chairman, VMBS;
* Noel DaCosta, board director, Diageo; chairman, United Way of Jamaica;
* Paul Gray, group division manager, energy and engineering, ATL;
* Pat Ramsay, president, International Women’s Forum Jamaica; and
* Winston Hay, former director general, OUR;
The council, JPS said, will meet regularly with the light and power company’s management to discuss its performance, make recommendations, and gauge its improvements and responsiveness.
Read more:
On Tuesday October 2, 2012, Energy Minister Philip Paulwell, included in his statement to Parliament:
“………….. there is no delicate way to repeat this: Jamaica will not move forward with electricity rates of 40 US cents per kilowatt hour. For us to achieve competitiveness in the global economy, we must reduce this burden on our manufacturers, our businesses and our people.
|
File photo of the Caribbean Sea off Pedro Cays, Jamaica. A power solution that is gaining global popularity is linkage by undersea electrical cable and tapping into the natural resources of other countries. |
Mr. Speaker, it is my goal to oversee the reduction of electricity costs in Jamaica, to between 15 and 18 cents per kilowatt hour, a rate that will allow Jamaicans to build industry, create jobs, and be competitive………”
The Minister is spot on. He was successful in reducing prices in the telecom sector. Can he do it again? Very high energy prices, driven by rising oil prices, will irretrievably destroy the economy of Jamaica. Excessive energy rates will kill production, reduce job opportunities and contribute to security issues. Foreign investment can only thrive in a stable and predictable cost climate. Jamaica must find a sustainable methodology reduce energy expense by half. Note, too, that since GDP calculation includes the balance of trade, the more imports exceed exports the lower the GDP. If a significant quantity of fuel is removed from the trade deficit then GDP increases and perhaps, without lifting a straw, Jamaica could show increased positive growth.
Electricity generation employs machinery to convert a fuel to electricity. Given the volatility of the already high oil based fuel prices and the increasing difficulty in mining oil, the answer cannot be found in fossil fuels. The alternative, among known technologies, includes nuclear, hydro, wind, solar, geothermal or ocean surface waves. Jamaica may not have the proven potential to utilize any of these technologies in the near or short term to produce a sustainable electricity supply and the quick, simple solution is to import electricity from across the sea.
A power solution that is gaining global popularity is linkage by undersea electrical cable and tapping into natural resources of other countries. This technology has been in use for decades. Existing undersea cables include Germany-Sweden 260 km (160 mi); in Australia, Victoria to Tasmania 290km (180 mi); England to Netherlands 260km (160 mi); France to England; Eastonia to Finland; Italy to Greece; Japan to Japanese Islands; Denmark to Germany and Sweden and the NorNed cable connecting Norway to Netherlands 580 km (360 mi).
Noteworthy projects presently being studied include a 1,000 km 2,000 MW cable, in up to 2,000 meters water connecting Asia and Europe (Israel-Cyprus-Greece); Spain to France; Puerto Rico to the Virgin Islands; India to Sri Lanka; Norway to Germany 1,400 MW by 2018 and UK to Iceland. (Iceland produces about 30 per cent of the world’s geothermal energy.)
There is an obvious plan to link Europe’s electricity supplies to UK, North Africa and Iceland.and create and electrical “supergrid” to increase competitiveness and reduce prices. A similar approach exists in our region. In 1996 SIEPAC (Spanish for Central American Electrical Interconnection System) initiated an Interconnection Treaty signed by Panama, Honduras, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and El Salvador. Guatemala is already linked to Mexico and Colombia is linking to Panama – effectively interconnecting North and South America through Central America. (Mexico, Central America, and Colombia possess massive existing and potential hydro and geothermal energy. Mexico, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and El Salvador together produce over one-half the world’s geothermal energy. Colombia’s energy cost 9.75 cents per kWh compared to over 40-cents in Jamaica.) This region could have its own “supergrid” through connection from Mexico to Cuba to Florida and Cuba to Jamaica to Hispaniola to the Lesser Antilles to Venezuela and to the SIEPAC network.
Clearly, if at all possible, Jamaica’s solution is to interconnect with Latin America. A direct link from Colombia to Hispaniola is about 620 km (385 mi), to which Jamaica could connect through Haiti, has been studied but may not be feasible because of the water depth (over 3,000m). Another option would be to connect at Honduras or Nicaragua just over 650 km (400 mi) to the south-west with water depth no more than 460m (1200 ft). This is similar to the NorNed cable (currently the longest in the world) which measures 580m and is in 410 metres of water.
The NorNed business case (capacity 700 MW and completed cost US$800 million in 2007 – not far from what Jamaica spends on oil annually) expected annual income of $85-million. If one projects Jamaica electrical demand at 6-billion kWh, estimates the Jamaica cable cost to US$1-billion with expected income of $120-million, this equates to about 2-cents per kWh to bring power to Jamaica via the sea. An additional benefit is that the Latin American power is largely renewable or clean energy. Given electricity costs in Latin America, power landed in Jamaica would be about 12-cents. One must add local costs for transmission, distribution and supply and, of course, a cost for JPS to keep their equipment in readiness in case of a cable failure.
So, you see, one may not have to think too far out of the box (only 400 miles to the south west) to find a plausible solution to cut our electricity energy spending in half.
Robert Evans is an Engineer.
Read more:
The Jamaica Public Service has connected its first official net–billing customer to the grid.
The customer, Gordon Lawrence of a Corporate Area address, was officially commissioned after rigorous preparation and testing of the solar system at his home, supplied and installed by Alternative Power Sources.
Any excess energy from the solar system, not used by Lawrence, will be sold to JPS.
Lawrence was one of 11 JPS customers who received net-billing licences from Minister of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining Phillip Paulwell earlier this year. Net-billing customers will be paid the avoided cost of generation for the electricity JPS purchases, as well as up to a 15 per cent premium on that price.
JPS President and CEO Kelly Tomblin, in commenting on the landmark event, noted that the company was pleased to fulfil its mandate to accommodate customers on the grid, as part of the development of the new energy landscape in the island.
Nothing new
For his part, Lawrence said he was not new to generating his own power supply as he installed his system four years ago.
He said the process of getting on to the JPS grid – from application, to obtaining a licence, to dealing with the Office of Utilities Regulation, JPS, Alternative Power Sources and the government electrical inspector – was relatively smooth.
“The system is superior to that of a standby generator, as the changeover is seamless and silent,” he added. “It is also better than a generator in terms of cost as generators require fuel after purchase of the equipment.”
Lawrence’s current system produces roughly 10 to 15 kWh per day on average, with the surprise being that the so-called winter months from October to February have proven to be the most efficient months in terms of energy output.
JPS project manager for net billing, Volton Campbell, also recognised the advantage of Lawrence’s system.
“Unlike some solar systems that will not operate once there is no sunlight, Mr Lawrence’s system can operate when it’s cloudy, as well as at night,” Campbell said. “This is because his system also has backup batteries which are charged by the solar system.”
Read more:
Workmen from the Jamaica Public Service’s Hurricane Restoration Team assess a broken pole on Mandela Highway, St Andrew – file.
The Jamaica Public Service Company, JPS, says it has already spent US$4 million to repair damage caused by Hurricane Sandy.
And JPS vice president for technical services Ricardo Rennalls says it is projected that the entire restoration process will cost over US$7 million.
Speaking at a press conference this morning to update the country on the JPS restoration work, Rennals disclosed that the compaany suffered extensive damage to its distribution system.
He says the JPS lost thousands of electricity poles and 130 transformers, but has already restored over 1,500 poles.
While praising the performance of the company throughout the
The Jamaica Public Service Company, JPS, says it has already spent US$4 million to repair damage caused by Hurricane Sandy. And JPS vice president for technical services Ricardo Rennalls says it is projected that the entire restoration process will cost over US$7 million. Speaking at a press conference this morning to update the country on the JPS restoration work, Rennals disclosed that the compaany suffered extensive damage to its distribution system. He says the JPS lost thousands of electricity poles and 130 transformers, but has already restored over 1,500 poles. While praising the performance of the company throughout the
George Davis, guest columnist The energy minister, Phillip Paulwell, has taken a lot of stick from members of the advocacy group, Citizens United to Reduce Electricity (CURE), for the turn of events regarding the all-island licence granted to the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) by the People’s National Party (PNP) administration in 2001. The criticism, including the claim that the minister has betrayed the Jamaican consumer by supporting his Government‘s decision to appeal the ruling, is fully merited. The minister, whose popularity was in the early part of its growth phase at the time, effectively ‘called down crosses’ upon himself by hailing the July 30 Supreme Court ruling of Justice Bryan Sykes as a major decision in his own bid to bring competition to the energy sector. The lawyer for CURE, Hugh Wildman, is on record saying Minister Paulwell told him privately that the court ruling will allow him and his Government to break up the JPS monopoly on the transmission and distribution of electricity. With that admission, Paulwell effectively cut his own tamarind switch and asked CURE to flog him senseless after the reasons for the Government’s decision to join the JPS in appealing the ruling were articulated in the House of Representatives by Attorney General Patrick Atkinson on November 6. Gathering storm But the wrath at Paulwell’s impression of a ‘two-side cutlass’ is threatening to relegate the real issues, concerning the court ruling, to the sidelines. Principal among those real issues is the fact that in reality, the landmark victory secured by CURE in the Supreme Court would create an unprecedented crisis in every atom of the Jamaican society. If, as the court found, the JPS’s all-island licence was indeed invalid, and the decision should be enforced, what would happen to the company’s operations? At what point would the JPS turn off the lights, send its employees home, and call time on its business interest in Jamaica? What would Portia Simpson Miller, her Government and the citizenry do when JPS, with justification, demanded the return of the billions of dollars invested in its business, on the premise of being a monopoly, since 2001? How would Government deal with the fact that it now has to foot a massive bill for a licence that it granted to the utility provider to meet the country’s energy needs? For anyone in the dark about why the attorney general was moved to advise the Government to appeal the ruling, I ask only that you think very carefully on these things. We should agree that shutting down the sole transmitter and distributor of electricity won’t translate into lower light bills for us, the hard-up and long-suffering JPS customers. If such a ruling were handed down against a company similar to the JPS today in, say, England, where Wildman found a 1913 court ruling to strengthen his arguments in the court, I could understand and accept. No competition here But England today, with its 42 counties, has more than 70 companies which supply customers with electricity or a combination of electricity and gas. Shutting down one of so many providers simply allows the customer to call in npower or a Sainsbury’s Energy to supply their electricity needs. That, unfortunately, is not the reality in Jamaica. In all this, one must sympathise with the members of CURE. Theirs is, and continues to be, a gallant effort to do something about the crippling cost of our residential and commercial electricity bills. Hugh Wildman is a ‘square-shooting George Davis, guest columnist The energy minister, Phillip Paulwell, has taken a lot of stick from members of the advocacy group, Citizens United to Reduce Electricity (CURE), for the turn of events regarding the all-island licence granted to the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) by the People’s National Party (PNP) administration in 2001. The criticism, including the claim that the minister has betrayed the Jamaican consumer by supporting his Government‘s decision to appeal the ruling, is fully merited. The minister, whose popularity was in the early part of its growth phase at the time, effectively ‘called down crosses’ upon himself by hailing the July 30 Supreme Court ruling of Justice Bryan Sykes as a major decision in his own bid to bring competition to the energy sector. The lawyer for CURE, Hugh Wildman, is on record saying Minister Paulwell told him privately that the court ruling will allow him and his Government to break up the JPS monopoly on the transmission and distribution of electricity. With that admission, Paulwell effectively cut his own tamarind switch and asked CURE to flog him senseless after the reasons for the Government’s decision to join the JPS in appealing the ruling were articulated in the House of Representatives by Attorney General Patrick Atkinson on November 6. Gathering storm But the wrath at Paulwell’s impression of a ‘two-side cutlass’ is threatening to relegate the real issues, concerning the court ruling, to the sidelines. Principal among those real issues is the fact that in reality, the landmark victory secured by CURE in the Supreme Court would create an unprecedented crisis in every atom of the Jamaican society. If, as the court found, the JPS’s all-island licence was indeed invalid, and the decision should be enforced, what would happen to the company’s operations? At what point would the JPS turn off the lights, send its employees home, and call time on its business interest in Jamaica? What would Portia Simpson Miller, her Government and the citizenry do when JPS, with justification, demanded the return of the billions of dollars invested in its business, on the premise of being a monopoly, since 2001? How would Government deal with the fact that it now has to foot a massive bill for a licence that it granted to the utility provider to meet the country’s energy needs? For anyone in the dark about why the attorney general was moved to advise the Government to appeal the ruling, I ask only that you think very carefully on these things. We should agree that shutting down the sole transmitter and distributor of electricity won’t translate into lower light bills for us, the hard-up and long-suffering JPS customers. If such a ruling were handed down against a company similar to the JPS today in, say, England, where Wildman found a 1913 court ruling to strengthen his arguments in the court, I could understand and accept. No competition here But England today, with its 42 counties, has more than 70 companies which supply customers with electricity or a combination of electricity and gas. Shutting down one of so many providers simply allows the customer to call in npower or a Sainsbury’s Energy to supply their electricity needs. That, unfortunately, is not the reality in Jamaica. In all this, one must sympathise with the members of CURE. Theirs is, and continues to be, a gallant effort to do something about the crippling cost of our residential and commercial electricity bills. Hugh Wildman is a ‘square-shooting
Workmen from the Jamaica Public Service’s Hurricane Restoration Team assess a broken pole on Mandela Highway, St Andrew – file.