The Labour Ministry is to intensify its efforts to help businesses facing challenges to remain productive and
SUMMER is upon us and the desire to run the fan longer or even turn on the air-conditioning unit will rise.
But remember, so too will your light bill.
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If the satisfaction of reducing how much you pay JPS for electricity used is not enough incentive for you to conserve, think about the thousands of dollars that could go to your bank account each year.
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Residential consumers of electricity pay Jamaica Public Service (JPS) an average of $31 and $40 for each kilowatt-hour (kWh), depending on how much is used in any given month.
The price paid for electricity is higher for those with greater appetites for energy. That’s because the energy rate for each kWh above the first 100 kWh is 2.3 times the rate for the first 100 kWh
Have you been monitoring your energy consumption with a view to reducing monthly bills?
Yes, I have installed energy saving devices 40.38%
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Somewhat, every so often I try to cut down on my energy use 38.5%
No, I still have to pay whether or not I use it 21.13%
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Have you been monitoring your energy consumption with a view to reducing monthly bills?
Yes, I have installed energy saving devices 40.38%
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Somewhat, every so often I try to cut down on my energy use 38.5%
No, I still have to pay whether or not I use it 21.13%
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Participants listen attentively to Mauricio Pulido, Texaco CEO. – Contributed
GB Energy-Texaco celebrated its first retailers conference of 2013 with a complete agenda on business strategy, service stations’ performance, logistics and maintenance, customer service, and most important, the company’s vision for the business in Jamaica.
Mauricio Pulido, GB Energy’s chief executive officer for Jamaica, welcomed retailers and expressed thanks for their loyalty, confidence and collaboration in the company’s success.
After outlining the profile and scope of GB Group and its businesses within the Caribbean to participants, GB Energy’s executives presented the vision and commitment of Texaco in Jamaica – becoming the leader in the market in several aspects of the business including: quality of service, high operational standards, product offering, brand recognition, gasolene additive, customer service and safety.
“By mastering all aspects of the business, being consistent with our high performance standards and working together as a team, we will reach our objective and become the number-one brand of preference for customers in the petroleum industry throughout the island,” Pulido said.
During the conference it was announced that GB Energy will keep the Texaco brand, as well as its commitment to society, through social programmes in areas such as health, education and environment.
AWARDS PRESENTED
A highlight of the conference was the the presentation of awards for their exceptional performance to dealers. Categories such as safety, wet-stock management, million-gallon award, highest-volume award and customer-first champions.
President of the Jamaica Gasolene Retailers Association (JGRA), Derrick Thompson, noted his pleasure at initial gestures from the company, and the open and frank discussions between Chevron’s management and retailers.
“The retailers’ concerns were on the mark and the responses to the concerns were frank. I wish GB group all the best in navigating the Jamaican territory,” Thompson said.
The conference took place at the RIU Club hotel in Ocho Rios, St Ann, with the participation of 56 retailers islandwide and and Texaco’s executives Mauricio Pulido, David Sterling, Howard Henry, Marcia Johnson, Garfield Edwards, Cyville Martin, Dumile Morgan, Heather Daley-White, Andrea Smith, Edmond Lobban, Antonette Lawman, George Simpson and Latoya Winter.
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THE EDITOR, Sir:
Hardly a day goes by without me hearing of electricity theft from Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) supply lines. What about armoured cable? Has JPS tried this?
Twin armoured cables are made up of a minimum of five layers of insulation, the individual insulation of the two conductors, an overall insulation of these two, then comes the armour rap which in the low cost cables is normally made from aluminium and finally the outer insulation.
Steel armoured cables are considered the best. The 16mm steel armoured cables come in at about US$600 per 100 metres.
I know that there are many Jamaicans who are very ingenious at theft – and not much else – but unless one calls the Grim Reaper and asks him to stay away, it would be a very brave person, or possibly a fool, who tries to make a connection to an armoured cable without first switching the power off and using the correct tools.
You can’t connect to an armoured cable by throwing up a hook! Yes, I know that future legal connections to such a line will take longer and cost more, but it is a one-off payment. This will, in the end, cost less than going to and fro to remove illegal connections or throwing up hands and saying, “We don’t know what else to do.” We can’t go on like this!
JPS does not (I stand corrected) have any means of determining the difference between line loss which varies and theft, but as it is allowed to charge you and me for that which is guessed theft, why bother to go to the expense of putting up armoured cables in predominantly theft areas.
PHIL FOSTER
croc@cwjamaica.com
St Elizabeth
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JPS ripping us off again?
April 17, 2013
Roger Chang
In the recent JPS Annual Tariff Adjustment Page 19 Technical Losses states:
“The T&D system configuration and voltage levels are critical to determining the actual
level of technical losses. Further reduction in technical losses will typically be as a
result of capital intensive programmes such as building more sub-stations or
“”increasing”” the voltage level at which we transmit and distribute electricity.”
Increasing the voltage WILL increase your electricity consumption and in effect your JPS
bill!
Most other countries practice something called “Conservation Voltage Reduction (CVR)” in
an attempt to save energy…. decrease voltage. (thanks Stanley)
The JPS nominal voltage should be 110vac or 220vac for rate 10 customers (residential)
I typically measure between 115vac to 125vac and many days close to 128vac, or 4.5% to
16.3% over nominal voltage.
Ever wonder why your motors and electrical equipment run hotter or burn up quicker?
Overvoltage?
Studies have shown 1% voltage change can yield a 0.6% change in consumption, or 2.7% to
9.8% increase in your JPS bill!
Is this there the 10% technical loss reduction will come from?
Technical losses is said to be about $1,500 million annually
Building a sub-station will cost money.
There is no cost to increase the voltage, but is an easy “hidden” way to extract more
money from every customer.
Where is the OUR?
Why is the OUR not regulating this?
Minister Paulwell?
more to come…
THE JAMAICA PUBLIC SERVICE CO. LTD. ANNUAL TARIFF ADJUSTMENT SUBMISSION FOR 2013
http://www.our.org.jm/images/
20Tariff%20Submission.pdf
http://www.myjpsco.com/_pdfs/
http://www.jsea.org.jm/docs/
20Co_July09_Draft%20v3.0_
WITH electricity rates at an all time high in Jamaica, the domestic solar energy market appears to be gaining momentum.
“The last year has been fantastic, and the reason for that is that finally we are getting more and more of an environment where people see energy prices going up and don’t see anything changing very rapidly,” said Maikel Oerbekke, principal of Renewable Energy Developers (RED), a Montego Bay-based company that develops and implements solar energy projects primarily for commercial clients.
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Icon Renewables proprietor Moses Chybar with a solar dusk to dawn flood light, which can run for up to 12 continuous hours, at the Jamaica Alternative Energy Expo hosted by the US Solar Institute at the Pegasus hotel.
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RED, which specialises in solar photovoltaic (PV) technology from German total system company Schuco, and solar cooling and solar process heating plants from Austrian solar engineering firm SOLID, lists Jamaica Broilers Group and telecommunications giant Digicel among its customers.
Oerbekke, speaking with the Business Observer on Monday at the Jamaica Alternative Energy Expo hosted by the US Solar Institute at the Pegasus hotel, reasoned that locals now more than ever feel “strangled” by the electricity prices of monopoly provider Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS), which recently applied to the Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) for a 10 per cent increase on reconnection fees.
“People are saying ‘we have our backs against the wall and we need to do something now’,” he said, explaining the growing interest in solar energy as attendees crowded the expo to view and gather information on some of the latest systems.
RED has done more than US$3 million ($297 million) worth of projects in the last nine months, revealed Oerbekke. Its biggest project to date has been the solar PV and solar cooling system it did for Digicel at the telecoms’ new downtown Kingston headquarters, he said.
In anticipation of growing clientele, RED is awaiting approval from the St James Parish Council to construct a 3,000-square-foot showroom and administrative building in Montego Bay that can stock around 1,500 panels.
“So, we will be even more faster and flexible,” said Oerbekke, noting that “A third of the building will be a showroom and the building will be completely powered by solar.”
Indeed, the Jamaican solar market has evolved dramatically over the last decade, said Damian Lyn, the managing director at Alternative Power Sources, one of the pioneers in the industry.
“When we started 10 years ago, we were told the company would not survive; it had just cost too much to install a system,” said Lyn. “But we stuck with it and it has gone strength by strength overtime.”
Lyn, a former president of the Jamaica Solar Energy Association, said a huge drop in solar panel prices over the years has been a major catalyst behind the industry’s boom.
“When we started in business, we were selling at US$7.50 a watt, now we are below US$1.50 a watt,” said Lyn.
Furthermore, Lyn said Jamaicans are way more educated now about solar than they were in the early 2000s.
“They understand the difference between solar water heaters and PV systems etc, and the savings that they can have,” he said.
Jamaica has an abundance of sunshine, an average of 3,000 hours a year in Kingston, although that falls by a quarter in more mountainous parts of the island, which tend to have heavier cloud cover.
Photovoltaic power generation uses solar panels composed of a number of solar cells containing a photovoltaic material. Photovoltaic cells convert sunlight into electrical energy, which is subsequently stored in a bank of batteries.
Rooftop panels, which could last for 25 to 30 years, will now pay for themselves in as low as four years, said Lyn, noting that the pay back for a battery-based system is six to eight years, and four to five years for one that is grid tied. Until recently, the pay-back period was up to 20 years.
Some say that changes to the regulatory framework has also had a positive impact on the uptake of solar power, with solar electric customers now able to offset their costs by selling back to the JPS, following the implementation of net billing last year. Net billing customers are paid the avoided cost of generation for the electricity JPS purchases, as well as up to a 15 per cent premium on that price.
Meanwhile, several organisations and businesses have switched to solar power, including Sandals Resorts International, which announced in November 2011 that it had teamed up with Panasonic to launch the region’s first ecovillage hotels. The company hopes to turn a profit on its investment in seven to eight years, said its CEO, Adam Stewart.
What’s more, GraceKennedy subsidiary Dairy Industries is reportedly going with a 60-kilowatt solar system shortly and Lyn himself is currently installing a 100 kw system for the American International School of Kingston.
Still, the Alternative Power Sources boss said he hopes to see more corporate entities getting involved in solar energy.
“A lot are still sceptical. I think, on the corporate end, they still don’t fully understand the paybacks, while the residential person who feels it more, knows it,” he said.
Against that background, Lyn feels the residential market
THE St Catherine police are seeking the help of citizens as they investigate the theft of 53 batteries from solar-lighting systems along sections of Highway 2000 in the parish.
Persons with information were asked to call the Highway 2000 East-West toll free number at 1-888-429-5632 or the Ferry Police Station at 705-8349 or 705-8112.
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Batteries stolen from sections of the St. Catherine leg of Highway 2000, which were recovered by the police. (PHOTO: JIS)
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Joan Fletcher, CEO of the Toll Authority, the regulatory agency for the toll road, told JIS News that the batteries were discovered missing over the last two weeks during routine checks along the corridor.
She said that six stainless steel boxes containing 24 batteries were discovered missing from metal post lighting systems situated on the Spanish Town eastbound on-ramp on March 24. These boxes, she said, were placed approximately nine metres above ground on the metal post.
She said that another three boxes containing 12 batteries were stolen from sections of the Mandela Highway westbound on-ramp on March 30, while an additional 17 were removed from the eastbound off-ramp, along that corridor, on March 31.
In the March 31 incident, Fletcher says quick action by the police, who were alerted of the thieves’ activities, led to the recovery of four damaged batteries in an adjoining canefield. She said the culprits apparently tossed the batteries away, in the field while fleeing the lawmen.
The solar lighting systems were installed at a cost of approximately $150 million by the developer of the St Catherine leg of Highway 2000, TransJamaican Highway Limited. The provision has served to enhance the visibility of motorists and other users of the highway at the corridor’s key interchanges, particularly at night.
TransJamaican’s quality maintenance and planning engineer, Melbourne Lyn-Cook, pointed out that the thefts have not only had a significant financial impact on the company and its shareholders, but has rendered the affected sections of the lighting systems inoperable.
He added that, while this poses some discomfort for users due to reduced visibility for users at night, the company has, to date, not received any report of mishaps.
Lyn-Cook advised that the remaining 175 batteries have been temporarily relocated to a secure storage area, while the company explores effective security mechanisms and measures for implementation, which will serve as deterrents.
“Once an effective solution to secure them has been determined, the company will schedule the re-installation and replacement of the fixtures, as our budget permits,” he added.
Additionally, he said routine patrols, currently being carried out, will continue in an effort to monitor the area and provide assistance where needed.
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China will begin this year to see the results of a reorganization among solar-component manufacturers prompted by a more than 20 percent drop in prices and tighter margins, according toJinkoSolar Holding (JKS)