Electricity Archives - Page 21 of 39

More Renewable Energy For Grid

August 26, 2015 Webmaster

Energy Minister Phillip Paulwell said yesterday that he expects renewable energy to comprise 12.5 per cent of the national grid by the end of 2016.

The Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) has invited interested entities to submit proposals for the provision of new generating capacity from renewable energy sources up to 37 megawatts (MW) to the national grid.

Currently, six per cent of the national grid is supplied by renewables, and this is to increase with the addition of 78MW by March next year with the coming on stream of three new renewable projects.

The National Energy Policy has identified fuel diversification and the development of the country’s renewable energy sources as two of its main objectives. The policy sets a target of having 20 per cent of the country’s energy being generated from renewables by 2030.

“My own view now is that we should aim for 30 per cent. The 12.5 will be achieved next year and we will be the leading Caribbean country in terms of renewables,” Paulwell said.

SYSTEM CAPACITY

Light and power provider, the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS), supplies consumers from an installed system capacity of approximately 945.1MW.

To date, the highest peak demand registered on the system was 644.4MW. In 2014, annual generation from renewable energy sources accounted for approximately six per cent of total system generation, with contributions of 2.5 per cent and 3.5 per cent from hydro and wind, respectively.

Meanwhile, Paulwell revealed that the net-billing arrangement is to be recommenced next month. The programme was suspended to undertake a review of the performance of the system and Paulwell said “all indications are that it has been doing very well and we, therefore, are going to resume”.

Net-billing is the system whereby the JPS buys excess power from its customers.

LICENCES ISSUED

More than 300 net billing licences have so far been issued by the energy minister, and the suspension of the system was undertaken to evaluate its success.

“We have not achieved the original target to get to 4MW of electricity being generated by that means and also we have not seen any degradation of the grid as a result,” Paulwell said.

But while the Government gets set to resume the net-billing arrangements, JPS has said that the regulatory authorities must institute a special cost system for persons who generate most of their own energy through renewable energy but are still dependent on the grid.

“If you come on for one hour, I have to do the same exact generation that I have to do if you are on for one day,” Kelly Tomblin, JPS president and CEO, told The Gleaner.

But Paulwell, responding to that charge, said “that is an argument that the OUR will have to address. Our policy is to encourage more and more renewables at the individual level.”

The Gleaner

Electricity JPS News

JPS To Invest Up To US$40m In Smart Grid

August 21, 2015 Webmaster

Jamaica’s light and power company is spending up to US$40 million over five years to roll out a smart grid and cut line losses.

Last year, the Jamaica Public Service Company Limited (JPS) reported a one per cent decline in sales along with a one per cent increase in system losses – mostly electricity theft – which drained US$18.4 million in revenue from the company.

Now, Senior Vice-President, Energy Delivery, Technology and Innovation Gary Barrow says the company is spending US$6 million to US$8 million per year over a span of five years on technology upgrades.

That includes the installation of smart meters, which the company has been testing in select homes since at least 2012 under what was referred to as its Smart Grid Interface pilot, according to past reports.

Now, around one-tenth of customers have smart meters installed.

The last 24 months have seen the light and power company quietly acquiring and testing new equipment, pilot-testing new programmes, and doing “systems shakedowns” before large-scale rollouts, said Barrow.

Pivotal to this will be the implementation of the smart grid. This is already giving the company the ability to remotely fix power outages, reroute power, monitor usage, and to start tackling losses that gobble up as much as 26 per cent of the power it generates.

Barrow is downplaying the smart grid as a silver bullet, meaning it will not solve all the problems that drain revenue from the utility, but he said it would put JPS on the cutting edge of technology and within requirements of a modern electricity distribution system

“When you talk about a smart grid, it is really about putting more intelligence into the grid. It is where you start and where you end. That is how the technology is evolving. It is getting the data and using a lot of sophisticated analytical tools that translate that data into information for us,” Barrow said.

The system has distribution automation switches that allow JPS to pinpoint faults and reroute power. Coupled with that is an outage management system that automatically locates outages and manages real-time recovery. The centrepiece of the improvements, however, is the installation of smart meters.

Over the last two years, the light and power company has installed about 60,000 smart meters, which is just about 10 per cent of the 580,000 customers served by JPS.

Consumption Readings

Barrow notes, however, that 65 per cent of revenue comes from customers with smart meters. This is because 100 per cent of all large customers – numbering about 5,000 business – are on smart meters. In addition, they have sought to cover medium-sized businesses and other heavy users.

The commercial applications – commercial automated metering infrastructure, or CAMI – allow JPS to do readings of consumption at 15-minute intervals for all large commercial customers. This information is shared with clients.

JPS also uses MV90 software to analyse if there are any unusual consumption patterns.

The company has also tested and is installing meters on a secondary line of distribution transformers. On a practical level, what that means is that JPS attaches a meter to one leg of the average 220 voltage wires that feed a typical street. This allows JPS to get closer to its goal of reducing line losses.

Barrow says that when the system is fully rolled out, JPS will be able to pinpoint energy theft at the micro level.

“Before, we knew that an entire feeder was suffering from theft, but now, we are actually able to take it down to transformer level. So if only 25 customers are on that transformer and we know that … we are delivering more energy than what we have billed for, now we can pin-point with great granularity where the theft is happening,” the power executive said.

He says JPS is also totting up savings from the smart grid.

“In some areas where we had as much as 50 per cent theft of electricity, just putting in these meters and taking some other actions, we were able to bring that down to two to three per cent,” he told Wednesday Business.

Given those successes, JPS is preparing to go a step further, technologically speaking, with the planned roll-out of “Smarter Smart Meters”, which will allow customers to manage their energy consumption through remote control of the devices in their own homes.

That system is in the final stages of pilot-testing in the upscale Jacks Hill-Norbrook areas of Kingston.

Having committed to the smart grid investment, the monopoly power distributor appears wary of competition from renewable energy systems – possibly under net-metering/net-billing policies that allow persons to generate and sell electricity to the national grid – with Barrow noting the proliferation of photovoltaics, which harness solar energy.

He said what was required is a modernisation of regulations.

“This is a critical success factor or a critical point of failure. I can be talking about all of these things, and if the regulations don’t support it in a way that the business remains viable, then as a country, we will lose out,” he said.

The Gleaner

Alternative Energy Electricity Energy Saving News Solar Energy Videos

This cool new Google Maps feature has nothing to do with navigation

August 18, 2015 Webmaster

Google Maps is already one of the most popular apps used on on smartphones thanks to its sophisticated navigation powers. But Google has figured out an even cooler use for the service and it that doesn’t even involve getting directions – meet Google’s brand new Project Sunroof.

Using the immense map data that’s behind Google Maps, the company’s new Google Maps feature will help you decide the best way to install solar panels on your roof. What Google can do for you is use the knowledge it collects about your home’s location to tell you how much sunlight you’re getting each day, how much electricity that can generate and how much it’ll cost you to install the solar panels.

Basically, Google’s service will be ready to answer some of your most pressing questions related to installing solar panels on your roof. So all you need to do is jot down the data and get ready to invest in solar panels for your roof. We should note, of course, that solar power might not be a good investment for everyone so make sure installing them will be financially worthwhile before making the switch.

Project Sunroof will debut in Boston, San Francisco and Fresno, but should expand to other markets in the future. A video explaining the cool Google Maps tech behind it follows below – more details about the project are available on Google’s special site for it at this link.

BGR

Alternative Energy Electricity JPS News

Solar Lights Up Red Bank Business

August 16, 2015 Webmaster

The lush green Malvern hills in the distance is in stark contrast to parched lands at Red Bank, St Elizabeth. Almost everywhere, farmers are busy pouring water on their plants, which are, for the most part, fighting an uphill battle against a wicked drought that threatens to bring everyone to their knees.

At Red Bank, there is no piped water, the catchments are dry, and the sun stands overhead like a wicked overseer. But it is not all bad. One man, Denroy Evans, has, for the past year, plugged into the element and is using solar power to drive his businesses.

Evans told The Gleaner that high electricity costs had threatened the survival of his business.

“One day I went to pay my bill and the lady looked at me and said, ‘Mr Evans, wait, a weh yu a burn up deh suh?'” Evans recalled.

He had gone to a bill payment agency in Junction, five miles from Red Bank, to pay a Jamaica Public Service (JPS) bill of $100,000.

“That is when I started to think. I said to myself, ‘If I could save that $100,000 per month, it would be $1.2 millon per year. So why not muscle up and put in the system and save it?'” Evan said.

Invested $4 Million

That was just over two years ago. Since then, he has invested roughly $4 million in a solar lighting system, and hardly has to deal with the JPS.

“With the high cost of energy, you have to find alternative sources. With the introduction of the solar system, we are now paying, depending on the time of the year, $6,000 to $12,000 per month. We have saved 85 to 90 per cent by installing solar, [the cost of] which will be recovered in about three to four years,” Evans told The Gleaner.

The system, which has been mounted on the top of a building that serves as home for a farm store, a supermarket and a variety store, consists of 63 solar panels, 56 batteries, a 6,000 watt inverter, and three controllers for the charging system. It runs some 10 refrigerators, lights, computers, cameras and fans.

“On the average, I pull down about 80-kilowatt (kw) hours per day and use about 75kw hours daily. We get good weather. We don’t get any rain and the sun is always out,” Evans quipped.

He said that the use of renewable energy is definitely the way to go, but cautions that anybody who wishes to invest should first of all educate himself/herself about the system.

“I have seen many people install it and they don’t even go into the battery room to check anything. What results is that the battery runs out of water … you need to be integrally involved in your solar system,” said Evans, who is a trained farmer and one-time teacher.

Light and power company JPS said that it is in favour of Jamaicans maximising the potential of solar and other renewable power. The company said, however, that the regulatory authorities must pay attention to the fact that the cost of operating the national grid is not dependent on the number of users.

“If you come on for one hour, I have to do the same exact generation that I have to do if you are on for one day,” Kelly Tomblin, JPS president and CEO told The Gleaner.

“If you have solar and you come on my system for 10 minutes, I have to build the same amount of infrastructure. If you are going to go solar, go completely solar, or if you are coming on my system, price it so that it reflects the fact that I have to build an exact same power plant and exact same infrastructure,” Tomblin added.

The Gleaner

Alternative Energy Electricity JPS News

JPS Moves Closer To Cheaper Electricity

August 10, 2015 Webmaster

The Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) has signed an agreement for the long-awaited supply of gas to the island.

The company has announced that it has signed a deal with the United States (US)-based New Fortress Energy for the supply of gas to Jamaica, after receiving approvals from the Government and the Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR).

Under the agreement, New Fortress Energy will provide the JPS with liquefied natural gas (LNG) for its 120-megawatt power plant in Bogue, St James.

The plant, which was first commissioned into service in 2003, is being converted to run on gas instead of the more expensive automotive diesel oil.

“This is a historic moment for JPS and for Jamaica,” said Kelly Tomblin, president and CEO of the JPS.

“JPS has worked since 2012 to procure gas as part our fuel diversification strategy. We are fortunate that we can now take advantage of technology related to gas shipments and supportive US policies that allow the export of gas to non-FTA countries.

“Just today (Friday), Fortress received its permit from the US Government to export gas to Jamaica. JPS is honoured to be leading this game-changer for the energy sector,” said Tomblin.

Support National Goals

The JPS CEO said the introduction of gas will support the national goals of energy security, sustainability and affordability.

“The move to cleaner fuels and more flexible generation will reduce our environmental footprint by allowing Jamaica to optimise our use of renewables while we simultaneously reduce emissions from our baseload generation,” said Tomblin.

According to Tomblin, the JPS has been working closely with the Electricity Sector Enterprise Team, which was set up by the Government to oversee the upgrade and expansion of Jamaica’s energy sector.

The signing of the gas supply agreement has set the stage for work to begin on the infrastructure needed for the delivery of gas to Bogue by early 2016.

Wes Edens, founder and co-chairman of the board of Fortress Investment Group, declared New Fortress Energy’s commitment to investing and creating value in Jamaica.

“This agreement opens the door to a new era of energy diversity and independence for Jamaica and its citizens, enabling the region to benefit from cost-effective, stable supplies of US natural gas.

“Our vision extends far beyond Bogue. This will be the catalyst to establish Jamaica as an energy hub for the Caribbean and Latin America. Jamaica is the ideal location to execute on this vision, and we intend to invest significantly in energy, port and logistics infrastructure on the island. Change takes vision and we applaud JPS, its leadership, and the Government of Jamaica for working tirelessly towards this moment.”

The Gleaner

Electricity JPS LNG News

General Electric To Retrofit Bogue Power Plant

June 26, 2015 Webmaster

Dr Vincent Lawrence, head of the Electricity Sector Enterprise Team (ESET), says the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) will conclude an agreement with General Electric for the retrofitting of its Bogue power plant in Montego Bay to be fired by liquefied natural gas.

Lawrence said the expected supply cost for LNG to the plant is US$14 per million BTUs, which is about half the US$27 unit cost to supply the plant with diesel, he added.

“We are very excited,” said Lawrence on Tuesday at his third press conference as chairman of ESET – a special body created to execute projects aimed at reforming Jamaica’s electricity market. “We are satisfied that the project is on target for the first quarter of 2016.”

His announcement puts to rest speculation that JPS was still considering a flirtation with propane as an interim fuel before moving to LNG.

The contract being finalised with General Electric is the second major announcement for the 115MW Bogue project, following last week’s disclosure in a market filing by JPS that it had hired Fortress Energy, another American company, to supply gas for the plant.

Last night, JPS said that General Electric would retrofit the plant for LNG, while Fortress would develop the regasification and storage facility. Fortress will also supply the gas.

JPS says the deal with General Electric is valued at US$15 million. However, the power utility was mum on the Fortress transaction, nor would it disclose the price at which Bogue would supply power to the grid under the partnership.

Previously, the company had floated US$80 million as an indicative cost for the full project, but that was before it found partners for the jobs.

Lawrence also announced Tuesday that JPS has got 12 expressions of interest through its request for proposals in June for development of a 190MW plant in Old Harbour, St Catherine, each of which has been issued with material to prepare for bidding on the contract.

Proposals have come in from Jamaica’s state-owned refinery, Petrojam, Royal Dutch Shell, British Petroleum, Clean Core and Fortress Energy. Clean Core was runner-up to Fortress Energy on the Bogue bids.

The plans for Old Harbour have grown more ambitious since the project was first mooted. Now ESET sees itself as the fulcrum for the development of a regional gas hub for the Caribbean that was first discussed in Jamaica during talks with US Energy Secretary Dr Ernest Moniz during President Barack Obama’s official visit in early April.

“Jamaica is trying to become the hub for gas distribution in the region. It is one of the things we are very interested in,” said Lawrence.

“In the request for proposals, we have requested that they provide a perspective on how Jamaica could serve the region. That is one of the things we will be assessing,” he said.

Discussions about such a hub flowed from a study done by Inter-American Development Bank on the regional demand for natural gas and the economics around consistent supply.

Bogue is being converted from automotive diesel oil to LNG. Lawrence said JPS had also looked at propane and ethane as fuel options, but finally decided to convert to LNG immediately.

“They have had meetings with General Electric and GE is on track to carry out conversion. The contract is to be signed early July,” said Lawrence.

The plant conversion will take 26 weeks, or just about six months, from the award of contract.

JPS confirmed the timeline of the first quarter of 2016 for the conversion to be completed.

Lawrence said Fortress will ship gas to the plant weekly from its Miami, Florida, facility to the port in Montego Bay.

For the pipeline to be built by Fortress from the port to the Bogue plant, the preliminary design, engineering, agreements with the Port Authority of Jamaica and authorisation from NEPA are being pursued, the ESET chairman said.

avia.collinder@gleanerjm.com

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/business/20150624/general-electric-retrofit-bogue-power-plant

Electricity Energy Saving Government Jobs JPS News

JPS Inks New Gas Deal With American Company, Fortress Energy

June 19, 2015 Webmaster

Jamaica Public Service Company Limited (JPS) has inked a deal with US-based New Fortress Energy to provide a long-term natural gas solution for its power plants, starting with Bogue.

However, the power supplier is not yet saying which gas it has selected as fuel and the price at which it will be supplied.

JPS itself has formerly floated the idea of propane initially and a future migration to natural gas.

The power utility has also not disclosed which entity will be responsible for retrofitting the plant at Bogue, which currently uses diesel fuel but has the infrastructure that allows it to transform to gas fuel.

As indicated to the Electricity Sector Enterprise Team last year, JPS is to convert the 115MW gas turbine plant at Bogue in Montego Bay from automotive diesel oil initially to propane by the fourth quarter of this year. The conversion, it projected, would result in an approximate 40 per cent fuel-price reduction.

The current plant consists of three individual units: two combustion turbine generating units with a total capacity of 80MW; and one 40MW steam-generating unit. The two combustion turbines operate on diesel fuel but are capable of converting to natural gas.

JPS said in a February update posted on its website that an independent engineer had been retained for the project and that construction was expected to begin by the second quarter of 2015 and that the plant should begin operating on gas fuel by the first quarter of 2016.

The company said this week that the gas-supply agreement with Fortress would pave the way for work to begin on the infrastructure needed for the delivery of gas to Bogue by early 2016.

The parties are firming up their agreement, which they expect to finalise by the end of this month.

Government Approval

Kelly Tomblin, JPS’ president and CEO, said that the company had received the final sign-off from the Government, through the Electricity Sector Enterprise Team, for the project.

“JPS understands the importance of gas to long-term sustainable energy prices and is proud to be able to finally bring gas to Jamaica,” she said in a company-issued statement.

JPS said New Fortress Energy was selected from a list of eight bidders who had responded to JPS’ request for proposals earlier this year.

Wesley Edens, founder and co-chairman of the board of Fortress Investment Group, said his company was quoted as saying that his company planned to “help make Jamaica an energy hub for the Caribbean and Latin America”.

New Fortress Energy is part of the Fortress Investment Group, a diversified global-asset firm with approximately US$70 billion of assets under management.

Investment vehicles managed by affiliates of Fortress own one of the largest crude oil terminals in the United States, as well as the first liquefaction facility in Florida, from which the gas will be supplied to Jamaica.

JPS has already submitted its proposal for Bogue to the Office of Utilities Regulation. The power utility previously telegraphed that the Bogue project may cost about US$80 million.

JPS senior vice-president for generation and project development John Kistle said in February that the converted installation was likely to include new pipelines and storage facilities constructed by fuel suppliers who would want to recover their costs. The new infrastructure is also likely to require new terminal facilities for off-take and supply of gas.

Request for additional comment on the new Fortress partnership were unanswered up to press time.

Alternative Energy Electricity Energy Saving Jobs News Solar Energy

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.

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