Shop Now - RezynTech
0 $0.00
Get Quote

Tag: Bryan Sykes

SolarBuzz Jamaica > Blog Classic > Bryan Sykes
News

Energy Minister’s Dilemma No ‘Light’ Matter

November 21, 2012

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

News

Energy Minister’s Dilemma No ‘Light’ Matter

November 21, 2012

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

Alternative Energy Government JPS LNG News Oil

Consumer Group Against Break-Up Of JPS Monopoly

September 19, 2012

Corporate headquarters of the Jamaica Public Service Company Limited, Knutsford Boulevard, New Kingston.
Corporate headquarters of the Jamaica Public Service Company Limited, Knutsford Boulevard, New Kingston.

The Consumer Advisory Committee on Utilities (CACU) has come out in favour of the Jamaica Public Service Company’s (JPS) retention of its monopoly on transmission and distribution of electricity, arguing that liberalisation of the grid will not lead to reduced electricity prices.

“This misplaced focus on electricity market liberalisation carries with it the danger of destabilising and delaying the actions that have real promise of bringing lower electricity prices to Jamaica,” the CACU said in a statement.

According to the group, whose acting chairman is Stephen Wedderburn, the most important issues to be addressed in achieving reduced electricity prices “are the introduction of an alternative fuel to oil and the installation of new, efficient generation plants”.

In addition, CACU said, “at this time, the loss of JPS’s exclusivity would threaten the successful implementation of the long-awaited LNG project and the installation of the new and efficient 360 MW combined-cycle plant.”

JPS is slated to construct the 360mw liquefied petroleum gas plant at Old Harbour, St Catherine, at a cost of US$600 million.

“If these projects are delayed, it means that Jamaica will spend even more years with high electricity prices, as there are no other projects on the horizon that could lead to a significant reduction in electricity rates,” the CACU said.

It added that market liberalisation by itself, would not lead to lower electricity prices, and may in fact lead to increased prices.

The eight-member advisory committee was established by the Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) in 2000. It comprises an independent group of persons from the public, who provide the OUR with a forum through which its receives consumers’ views on broad regulatory issues as well as perspectives on issues which affect the relationship between utility companies and consumers.

Part of its mandate is to report to the OUR on matters pertaining to the provision of utility services which affect the interests of consumers.

Members of the committee include Yasmin Chong, Erwin Burton, David Barrett, Kadin Birch, Paul Goldson, Adrea Adams and Gary Jackson.

On July 30, 2012, Justice Bryan Sykes issued a landmark ruling that the exclusivity provisions in the all-island electric licence granted to the JPS were invalid, on the basis that the relevant minister does not have the requisite authority to grant a licence on terms that bar the possibility of any other person entering the market for the transmission of electricity.

The ruling has been accepted in some quarters as signalling the end of JPS’ monopoly in the transmission and distribution of electricity.

Major uncertainties

However, the CACU, in analysing the issues, said it “does not share this sense of euphoria at Justice Sykes’ ruling. The committee believes that the ruling has served to introduce major uncertainties in the Jamaican electricity sector at a very critical time and could very well have the effect of significantly delaying the realisation of lower electricity prices in Jamaica.”

It continued: “We believe that the victory claimed by those who brought the case against JPS is likely to be a pyrrhic victory resulting in no real benefit for Jamaican consumers.”

CACU observed that it may seem strange that a consumer advocacy group appeared to be siding with an “unpopular monopoly provider of electricity”, but its view was that Jamaica should now be giving maximum focus to those actions which would lead to lower electricity prices.

“We do not believe that a break-up of JPS’ monopoly status will lead to lower electricity prices – at least not for the majority of electricity consumers in Jamaica – and we believe the focus on trying to liberalise the grid is distracting the society away from those concrete actions that will, in fact, lead to lower electricity prices,” the statement said.

The CACU said that as a consumer advocacy group, “We believe that the path to lower electricity prices must be the main focus, and that regardless of whether the transmission grid is liberalised or not, Jamaica will not get lower prices until we introduce an alternative fuel to oil and install new and more efficient generation plans to replace the near obsolete steam turbine units that form a major part of Jamaica’s baseload electricity generation capacity.”

Great contributor

The group said Jamaica’s continued dependence on oil for electricity generation was a greater contributor to high electricity prices than whether the market was liberalised or not. “Liberalising the transmission grid and having additional players generate electricity with oil is not going to give us lower electricity prices,” the CACU said.

It also observed that electricity costs could not, and would not, be reduced until critical decisions were taken and measures implemented to replace old and inefficient generating plants with more modern and efficient units.

“The Government has taken unto itself responsibility for both sets of measures. Specifically, it is the Government that sets the timetable for new generation capacity and issues the tenders for this capacity, and it is well known that it is the Government which is spearheading the LNG project,” the group said.

Furthermore, it noted that “there seems to be a generally accepted assumption that a liberalised electricity market will automatically lead to lower prices.

“We are concerned that commentators on the matter are not seeking to educate the public that in a liberalised market, there is a risk that prices could very well go up, and not down,” the group said.

“The objective of any investor is to maximise returns, and in a liberalised electricity market, JPS and any other power producer will be seeking to maximise their returns and if they have the opportunity to increase prices, they will not hesitate to do so,” the group said, referencing the liberalisation of the petroleum sector which, it said, has not resulted in a reduction in prices.

The CACU also noted that should a decision be made to liberalise electricity transmission and distribution, “Jamaica would not, in our view, be able to attract enough players to sustain a truly competitive market. Rather, we would likely end up with a handful of electricity generators resulting in an oligopoly structure.”

Moreover, the CACU said, “the Jamaican electricity system, with approximately half a million electricity customers, is quite small. We believe [it is] far too small to sustain a liberalised electricity market.”

business@gleanerjm.com

Read More

Government JPS News

Use JPS shares to acquire grid

September 13, 2012

ATTORNEY-AT-LAW Hugh Wildman on Tuesday urged the Government to use its 19 per cent share in the Jamaica Public Service (JPS) to acquire the electricity grid from the light and power company in an effort to accommodate energy providers who would want to enter the market.

Wildman, the attorney for the group of persons who had the Supreme Court struck down the exclusivity aspect of the JPS’s 20-year all-island licence, said that the grid should be in State control in order for Jamaica to benefit from affordable energy.

“Persons are expressing an interest in providing energy. What the Government needs to do now is use its 19 per cent share to acquire the grid from the JPS to allow other players to come on board,” said Wildman, who was speaking at the Kiwanis weekly luncheon at the Wyndham Hotel in New Kingston.

Wildman said that there are new players out there with better technology that would benefit consumers.

“Without cheaper energy Jamaica is going nowhere but down. Jamaica deserves better,” Wildman said.

The way was made clear for other players to enter the energy market when Justice Bryan Sykes on July 30 struck down the exclusivity aspect of JPS’s licence, issued by the energy minister in 2001. At the same time though, Sykes said that the all-island aspect of the licence was valid.

JPS has since appealed the ruling. So too have Dennis Meadows, Betty Ann Blaine and Cyrus Rousseau, the group of people who have brought the action against the JPS.

The claimants are asking the Court of Appeal to declare the licence invalid. The claimants are set to argue that only one licence was issued to the JPS and that it cannot be divided to make one part valid and another part invalid, as was done by the Supreme Court. The claimants are contending that the Electric Lighting Act prevents an entity from providing electricity across the entire island.

Read more:

JPS News

Round two of JPS licence fight heats up

August 31, 2012

PREPARATIONS for round two in the battle over the legality of the Jamaica Public Service’s (JPS’) all-island licence stepped up yesterday with the filing of a counter appeal to JPS’ own filing in the appellate court on Monday.

The counter appeal was filed by former Government Senator Dennis Meadows, Betty-Ann Blaine and Cyrus Rousseau, who were in July successful in having Justice Bryan Sykes strike down the exclusivity aspect of the JPS licence.

TOMBLIN

1 2

SolarBuzz © 2023. All Rights Reserved.