Barbara Gayle, Justice Coordinator
The attorney representing claimants in the class action suit against the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) is to head to the Court of Appeal today to file a counter notice of appeal.
This follows the filing by JPS yesterday of an appeal of the judges
The Office of Utilities Utilities Regulation (OUR) says it expects to get additional information from the Jamaica Public Service (JPS) by tomorrow as it probes the recent islandwide power outage.
The Jamaica Public Service Company, JPS has submitted its report outlining the reasons for the islandwide power outage on the weekend, to the Office of Utilities Regulation, OUR.
Corporate Communications Manager at the JPS Winsome Callum told RJR News that several factors contributed to the power outage.
She however declined to provide details, stating that a report on the matter was submitted to the OUR today.
Sections of the island were left in darkness between midnight Sunday and early yesterday morning.
The JPS said it would conduct a probe to determine the cause of the system failure.
http://rjrnewsonline.com/news/local/jps-submits-report-islandwide-blackout
Charlene Stuart, Staff Reporter
Several houses remain without electricity following a nationwide power outage early yesterday morning.
Barring reversals at appeals, for which the administration is likely to lack great enthusiasm, Justice Bryan Sykes may have played a fortuitous hand in favour of Phillip Paulwell, the energy minister.
For Justice Sykes, in his ruling on Monday, broke, at least for now, the electricity supply and distribution monopoly of the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) – a matter seemed set to be a battle of attrition, if not a noisy war, between Mr Paulwell and the light and power company.
Whatever may be the Government‘s strategy going forward, JPS, as has been indicated by its lawyers, is not about to meekly acquiesce to Justice Sykes’ decision. But it is a signal for both sides to recalibrate their conversation and settle on a new, serious and mature discourse on Jamaica’s energy future.
The background to these developments is the 20-year (subsequently extended by seven years) licence that was granted to JPS in 2001 by the Patterson administration, of which Mr Paulwell was a Cabinet member, for the exclusive distribution of power.
Breaking that monopoly has been a mantra of Mr Paulwell since January, following the People’s National Party‘s return to office after a four-year hiatus on the opposition benches. At upwards of US$0.40 per kilowatt-hour, Jamaican consumers face among this region’s highest electricity rates. It is conventional wisdom that the cost of power is a major drag on the competitiveness of the island’s economy. Mr Paulwell feels competition would drive down costs.
He has support among Jamaican consumers who largely blame JPS directly for this state of affairs. They see JPS as neither customer-friendly nor efficient, but able to leverage its monopoly to remain profitable.
Two consumer groups and an individual manufacturer brought a class-action suit challenging the minister’s authority (Bobby Pickersgill at the time) under the Electric Lighting Act to have granted JPS an exclusive licence for the transmission and distribution of power.
Justice Sykes rejected the claimants’ argument that under Section 3 of the law, there was no provision for a single supplier of electricity, and that the minister, therefore, had no power to issue an all-island licence. What was wrong, the judge argued, was the pre-emption of the opportunity of other potential licensees.
The problem of the current licence
Said Justice Sykes: “The statute does not give the power to the minister to grant a licence on terms which effectively bar any other applicants from being considered. This, in the opinion of the court, is the problem of the current licence to JPS. The minister has committed himself and his successors to a situation in which there is no possibility of change for the required 20 years (which has been extended), even if new technology or a new company has a better and cheaper way of doing what JPS is doing.”
That, effectively, is the argument of the anti-JPS lobby – and Mr Paulwell.
This week’s ruling does not immediately affect the JPS’s ability to operate, as its licence, but for its exclusivity, remains valid. Further, Mr Paulwell has no other application on his desk. Nor are there protocols for interconnection on the JPS grid. Clearly, other potential players will be emboldened by the ruling. They will receive encouragement from consumers.
It is time for constructive engagement.
The opinions on this page, except for the above, do not necessarily reflect the views of The Gleaner. To respond to a Gleaner editorial, email us: editor@gleanerjm.com or fax: 922-6223. Responses should be no longer than 400 words. Not all responses will be published.
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20120801/cleisure/cleisure1.html
THE Supreme Court yesterday ruled that the all-island licence held by the Jamaica Public Service (JPS) is not exclusive, paving the way for other players to enter the market for distribution of electricity.
The ruling by Justice Bryan Sykes was immediately hailed by Hugh Wildman, attorney for the claimants, as a major victory. “It is a major victory, because the claimants have been able to break the monopoly licence,” Wildman told reporters following the handing down of the ruling.
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JPS head office in Kingston. |
“What the court is saying is that the exclusive nature of the licence is illegal; that is what this judgement has done. We have succeeded in the main declaration,” said the attorney.
Yesterday, Justice Sykes told the court that the minister had the right to grant a licence to a single light and power provider to cover the entire island, but that the minister does not have the power to grant a licence on terms that preclude him from considering any other applicant. “That is not what Section 3 [of the Electric Lighting Act of 1890] in my view, intended. The exclusive licence to JPS did that,” said the high court judge.
Said the judgement: “The minister does not have the power to grant a licence upon terms that bars the possibility of any other person entering the market for transmission of electricity. The term of JPS’ licence granting it exclusive right to transmit electricity is not valid.”
Michael Hylton, QC, who appeared for the JPS, told the Jamaica Observer that his client would be appealing Justice Sykes’ ruling.
The claimants
Barbara Gayle, Justice Coordinator
Supreme Court Judge Bryan Sykes has ruled that the monopoly power distribution license granted to the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) is not valid.
In his ruling handed down a short while ago, Justice Sykes said the minister does not have the power to grant a license on terms which prevent other applicants from having their applications being considered genuine.
The judge also said the minister does not have the power to grant a license upon terms that bar the possibility of any other person entering the market for the transmission of electricity.
As a result, the judge says the terms of the JPS license granting it exclusive right to transmit electricity is not valid.
However, the judge says the minister has the authority to grant a license to an operator to supply power to the entire island.
The group Citizens United for the Reduction of the cost of Electricity had
brought a class action challenging the monopoly license granted to the JPS.
radio@gleanerjm.com
THE action challenging the legality of the Jamaica Public Service’s (JPS) exclusive all-island licence will reconvene in the Supreme Court today, a week after Justice Bryan Sykes reserved judgement in the case.
The matter is being recalled for further submissions to be made on a 1913 case, the ‘London Electric Supply Corporation Ltd v Westminster Electric Supply Corporation Ltd’, which the claimants are confident will help their cause against the light and power company.
