Investors willing to pump capital into renewable energy projects in Jamaica won’t have to make a one per cent downpayment when making their bids to the regulator.
In stead, they will have to submit the proposal security of one per cent of the total project cost to the Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) after their project has been given the greenlight.
A new part 1C has been added to the Third Schedule part 1 of the GCT Act for energy saving devices:
1.
AILING President
KINGSTON, Jamaica Monopoly power distributor, the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS), has reported a two-thirds drop in its annual net profit to US$12.7 million (J$1.18b) following flat sales last year. Kelly Tomblin, JPS president and CEO, all but blamed the losses on “reduced consumption, at least for paying customers”. She spoke at the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce forum on energy at the Knutsford Court Hotel in Kingston. JPS revenues dipped by almost US$12 million to US$1.14 billion (J$106b) for the year, according to financials published on the Jamaica Stock Exchange. Dividend payments to its Asian and Jamaican owners were slashed year-on-year resulting in a more than 200 per cent rise in cash to US$27.7 million for its year ending December 2012. The power utility paid out US$5 million in ordinary dividends compared with US$44 million a year prior when net profit amounted to US$34.35 million. The utility is owned by Japan’s Marubeni Corporation, 40 per cent; South-Korea-based Korea East-West Power (EWP), 40 per cent; Government of Jamaica, 19.9 per cent; while 3,000 shareholders own the remaining 0.1 per cent of the shares. EWP became a shareholder in April 2011 when it acquired the 40 per cent stake previously held by Abu Dhabi-based TAQA. The company recorded a slight increase in fuel costs which totalled US$777 million for the year ending December 2012, compared with US$765 million in the prior year. Such costs are usually passed on to customers. Working capital also increased to US$147 million from US$139 million year-on-year. Equity increased US$7.6 million to US$387 million year-on-year. The cost of fuel, as well as old inefficient plants, has weighed on the company’s service delivery and its bottom line. JPS has presented Government with its own proposal to develop a new energy plant but has not disclosed the proposed fuel mix. The OUR says it will respond to that proposal, as well as others from potential investors in renewables, in March. business@gleanerjm.com Read more: Monopoly power distributor, the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS), has reported a two-thirds drop in its annual net profit to US$12.7 million (J$1.18b) following flat sales last year. Kelly Tomblin, JPS president and CEO, all but blamed the losses on “reduced consumption, at least for paying customers”. She spoke at the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce forum on energy at the Knutsford Court Hotel in Kingston. JPS revenues dipped by almost US$12 million to US$1.14 billion (J$106b) for the year, according to financials published on the Jamaica Stock Exchange. Dividend payments to its Asian and Jamaican owners were slashed year-on-year resulting in a more than 200 per cent rise in cash to US$27.7 million for its year ending December 2012. The power utility paid out US$5 million in ordinary dividends compared with US$44 million a year prior when net profit amounted to US$34.35 million. The utility is owned by Japan’s Marubeni Corporation, 40 per cent; South-Korea-based Korea East-West Power (EWP), 40 per cent; Government of Jamaica, 19.9 per cent; while 3,000 shareholders own the remaining 0.1 per cent of the shares. EWP became a shareholder in April 2011 when it acquired the 40 per cent stake previously held by Abu Dhabi-based TAQA. The company recorded a slight increase in fuel costs which totalled US$777 million for the year ending December 2012, compared with US$765 million in the prior year. Such costs are usually passed on to customers. Working capital also increased to US$147 million from US$139 million year-on-year. Equity increased US$7.6 million to US$387 million year-on-year. The cost of fuel, as well as old inefficient plants, has weighed on the company’s service delivery and its bottom line. JPS has presented Government with its own proposal to develop a new energy plant but has not disclosed the proposed fuel mix. The OUR says it will respond to that proposal, as well as others from potential investors in renewables, in March. business@gleanerjm.com Read more: Energy minister Philip Paulwell yesterday announced a counterintuitive measure that will delay the vetting of new power plant proposals in order to fast-track their approval. The electricity regulator Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) will now advise Paulwell on the acceptance or rejection of proposals by March 30 instead of the original month-end deadline. The extension saves these projects from a lengthy retendering which could last years. Such a delay would stall plans to slash the island’s high energy costs while threatening future blackouts. “I have enabled them with a further period of time to the end of March to do their contemplation. They have received from JPS (Jamaica Public Service Company), and others, new proposals and they wish to study them carefully because the OUR and myself agree that time is of the essence, and we do not want to lose any more time – because the decision has to be taken now,” said Paulwell on Tuesday at the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce forum on energy in Kingston. “And rather than start the whole process again, once there is a prospect of pursuing a path of lower electricity prices, we want to implement it quickly,” he said. JPS, the monopoly power distributor, submitted a proposal that incorporates an undisclosed fuel source as an alternative to its 360-megawatt natural gas plant, but the OUR requests additional information. Approving these plants would usually result in public procurement of a fuel supplier which could take months or years. Paulwell would obviate this process via parliamentary approval. “You could treat a proposal as an unsolicited offer, at which time, the Government can sign off on it and forego the need for procurement,” he explained. The OUR will allow JPS until Friday, March 15 to submit details of an alternative proposal for provision of electricity-generation capacity. This was in response to a letter, containing a broad summary of its latest offer, sent on Thursday, January 31 by the JPS. “The JPS and its stakeholders had missed its deadline of Wednesday, January 30 to complete the requirements under the request for proposal (RFP) for the 360MW project, and so the alternate proposal could not have been considered within the context of the RFP,” said the OUR in a media release on Tuesday. The OUR said several other companies have expressed interest since the termination of the RFP process. Those companies also have until March 15 to “concretise” unsolicited submissions into firm proposals. The OUR release stated that JPS missed another deadline granted to facilitate the provision of project details, including pricing and supplier. “This was the third extension granted by the OUR to JPS … . They were given until January 30, 2013 to complete the outstanding matters relating to the bid,” said OUR. In late 2011, JPS was awarded the right to construct a 360MW plant, which followed the issuance of an RFP from the OUR. The plant was supposed to be the largest of a planned 480MW programme. The 360MW would have replaced old power plants with units fired by cheaper fuel, and add new capacity to the grid to maintain pace with the national energy demand. steven.jackson@gleanerjm.com Read more: