The Editor,
THE Jamaica Public Service says it will be investing more than
US$5 Million this year in critical information technology infrastructure as part of efforts to improve the quality of service it provides.
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Ian Wray (right), director of account management at Ventyx, signs the partnership agreement for new customer service IT systems, while Gary Barrow (left), the Jamaica Public Service Company
TOMBLIN:
Arthur Hall, Senior News Editor The Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) is expressing concern that the long-running problem of electricity theft could cause its demise. “For the JPS this might very well be the death knell … . There is no business in Jamaica that can lose $2 million to $3 million per month and still be viable, so for us it has reached a very critical point,” declared JPS President and CEO Kelly Tomblin yesterday during a media briefing. Tomblin underscored that the JPS was at a financial precipice and could fall because it is in breach of a debt covenant which could trigger a demand for it to pay off US$425 million in debt. According to Tomblin, the financial state of the company is worsened by electricity theft which triggered a penalty of US$30 million last year. That more than doubled the US$12.9 million which the JPS recorded as profit for the year. “It is causing deteriorating financial performance that keeps me from doing many of the things that my team and I want to do to improve customer service,” Tomblin told journalists during a media briefing at the JPS’ New Kingston office. “It is not just the theft, but it is also the penalty that we get because of the theft, so we are up against it and we don’t know how to combat,” added Tomblin. Illegal connections removed She said for the first three months of this year more than 54,000 illegal connections (throw-ups) were removed; 75 persons arrested and approximately 36,000 electricity audits conducted. The JPS has also intensified the introduction of its Residential Automated Metering Infrastructure (RAMI) tamper-resistant metres with more than 22,000 persons connected at a cost of approximately $1,000 each. In addition, a special unit has been established to go after the commercial entities and other large users involved in electricity theft. But Tomblin noted that these measures have not significantly reduced the level of electricity theft across the island. “Estimates are that we still have 150,000 or up to 200,000 households stealing electricity and that’s against the backdrop of less than 600,000 customers … that could be a third of the people stealing so that is significant.” Multifaceted approach According to Tomblin, the problem of electricity theft has to be addressed in a multifaceted way because it is a socio-economic problem that cannot be addressed only by the JPS. “We have a goal in the country that 100 per cent of Jamaicans should have access to electricity … but everybody cannot afford electricity, so what is the stop gap or the bridge? There is also the community acceptance of theft because we don’t see persons being arrested in droves.” Tomblin argued that the root of the problem is crime and poverty and until these problems are addressed electricity theft will continue. She charged that there needs to be tighter legislation with harsher penalties for electricity theft, even as she noted that the JPS does not benefit from the arrest of persons caught stealing electricity. The JPS boss added that it needs the input of several different governmental and non-governmental organisations to come up with new measures to deal with the problem of electricity theft. “We all have to get around the table and say let’s find a different solution because this one isn’t working.” arthur.hall@gleanerjm.com Read more:
THE Jamaica Public Service (JPS) says its customers will see a five per cent decrease in their electricity bill this month, despite the continued devaluation of the Jamaican currency. This decrease, the light and power company said last night, is due to a reduction in the cost of the fuel used to generate electricity. “Each month, the fuel charge on electricity bills changes, depending on the cost of the oil that JPS and other power-generating companies buy to produce electricity,” JPS said. “The fuel & IPP cost on bills for April is $24.35 per kWh, compared to the charge of $26.54 per kWh applied to March bills. “This means that a residential customer who consistently uses 200 kWh will be paying about $400 less for his/her bill this month, compared to what he paid last month. This customer will pay $7,518 for the 200 kWh of electricity used, as against the $7,918.55 that was paid in March for the same usage,” the company said. The JPS, however, urged customers to continue their conservation efforts as the final bill amount will depend on total electricity used. Read more:
Kelly Tomblin officially opens the company’s first eStore, which sells devices to help monitor, protect and conserve energy.
Sacha Walters-Gregory, Staff Reporter National power supplier, Jamaica Public Service (JPS), is relinquishing power to its customers by venturing into retail, with its new e-Store which sells devices designed to cut customers’ energy costs. “It’s really to put knowledge and information in our customers’ hands. As you look at our products you’ll see that a lot of our products are designed to do just that,” said Kelly Tomblin, president and CEO of JPS, at the official opening of the first store last Thursday. The power company, often dogged by customers’ complaints of high energy costs, is selling devices to save energy, protect electrical equipment and monitor electricity usage, which will ultimately allow consumers to reduce energy consumption. Located at the power company’s Ruthven Road Customer Service Office, at 23 Ruthven Road, St Andrew, the store is one of four stores to be opened this year. “The products really help our customers to say, this costs me that and unfortunately when you get a bill at the end of the month for activity done throughout that month there’s nothing you can do about it at that time, but we’re going to give them information along the way so they can afford that energy bill and then after that we’re going to talk about how you decrease your usage,” said Tomblin. She further explained that energy conservation needs to be more relevant to customers. REAL CONSERVATION “The reason we believe that these kind of products and stores are necessary is that we’re finding although we give conservation a lot of lip service we haven’t got passionate about it. I think it’s because we haven’t made it real, conservation and show a bill before and after. So we’re hoping that along with the government we can lead the way to show real decreases in energy prices,” she said. One of the products available in the store is the Digital Energy Timer, invented locally, which can be attached to a variety of electrical devices, allowing owners to automatically turn these devices off when not in use by way of a timer or by way of the Internet. It can be applied on a small scale in homes or larger scale in businesses. According to a release from the company, “the timer, which also comes with an energy meter that measures power consumed, can be installed at distribution panels, electrical enclosures and specific zone areas and is particularly useful in determining energy usage of one section of a factory or a tenant in a rental situation. ” Other products include LED lights which can reduce energy costs by approximately $3,000 per bulb per year; an Energy Saving Kit ($2,900 including GCT), which includes a low-flow shower head that allows you to use 0.5 less gallons of water, a timer to alert you when you’ve reached the optimal time for a shower, a sensored night light and three energy-efficient bulbs and surge protector devices. Customers can also access the devices available at the eStore, at JPS branches islandwide. sacha.walters@gleanerjm.com) 
JAMAICA Public Service‘s (JPS) customers may soon be able to pay their bills in advance through a pre-paid system that will be implemented next year. “Jamaicans already have a pre-paid psychology, said Kelly Tomblin, president and chief executive officer of JPS.
Most people in Jamaica are used to paying for their cell phones with pre-paid cards. “We believe the system can be easily managed and it gives customers a way to mange their expenses” she said. Pre-paid metres will form an integral part of the company‘s program to help reduce losses and is a key strategic initiative in 2013, the company said. A programme to persuade customers to take the new metres will be launched early next year. So far, the project’s team has conducted research and the programme is in its planning stages, JPS said. Preliminary feedback from customers is that it is something they would appreciate, said Winsome Callum, JPS’s head of corporate communications. Some of the company’s customers don’t just pay their bills on time, they pay in advance,” she said. “As soon as they get their income, they pay.” Tomblin reckons the system will be economically viable. JPS has already installed 6,000 Korean-built metres that have a pre-paid capacity, but the software to support the system is not yet in place. Elsewhere in the world, “where these systems have been installed, there is a high level of customer satisfaction. It gives the customer control,” JPS said. Customers know how much they can afford to spend and they regulate their use. The system would offer an alternative to disconnection for customers who have trouble paying their bills. Currently, the only tool the company has with people who don’t pay on time is to cut them off, since it can’t charge interest or late fees. “Something may come up. And for some reason, a customer may run into problems and have their light cut off,” Tomblin said. “Paying in advance will spare our customers.” But the metres are unlikely to address a bigger problem for the company, the 25 per cent system loss due to theft. Many power users have never paid for their electricity in their lives, Tomblin told the Jamaica Observer‘s Monday Exchange. Read more:
JAMAICA Public Service‘s (JPS) customers may soon be able to pay their bills in advance through a pre-paid system that will be implemented next year. “Jamaicans already have a pre-paid psychology, said Kelly Tomblin, president and chief executive officer of JPS.
Most people in Jamaica are used to paying for their cell phones with pre-paid cards. “We believe the system can be easily managed and it gives customers a way to mange their expenses” she said. Pre-paid metres will form an integral part of the company‘s program to help reduce losses and is a key strategic initiative in 2013, the company said. A programme to persuade customers to take the new metres will be launched early next year. So far, the project’s team has conducted research and the programme is in its planning stages, JPS said. Preliminary feedback from customers is that it is something they would appreciate, said Winsome Callum, JPS’s head of corporate communications. Some of the company’s customers don’t just pay their bills on time, they pay in advance,” she said. “As soon as they get their income, they pay.” Tomblin reckons the system will be economically viable. JPS has already installed 6,000 Korean-built metres that have a pre-paid capacity, but the software to support the system is not yet in place. Elsewhere in the world, “where these systems have been installed, there is a high level of customer satisfaction. It gives the customer control,” JPS said. Customers know how much they can afford to spend and they regulate their use. The system would offer an alternative to disconnection for customers who have trouble paying their bills. Currently, the only tool the company has with people who don’t pay on time is to cut them off, since it can’t charge interest or late fees. “Something may come up. And for some reason, a customer may run into problems and have their light cut off,” Tomblin said. “Paying in advance will spare our customers.” But the metres are unlikely to address a bigger problem for the company, the 25 per cent system loss due to theft. Many power users have never paid for their electricity in their lives, Tomblin told the Jamaica Observer‘s Monday Exchange. Read more:
THE Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) says that it is prepared to grant some leniency to its customers, particularly those in Portland, St Thomas and St Mary, who are struggling to recover from the effects of Hurricane Sandy. The move apparently forms part of efforts by the company to improve its customer service, for which it has received harsh criticisms over the years.
Since her arrival in Jamaica earlier this year, the company’s President and Chief Executive Officer Kelly Tomblin made it clear that she intends to reposition JPS by paying attention to its customer service flaws, as she focuses on the company’s bottom line. Tomblin, who was a guest at yesterday’s Jamaica Observer Monday Exchange, disclosed that instructions have already been given for its parish managers and customer service personnel, particularly in the hard hit areas, to exercise discretion and to work with customers who may not be able to settle their bills in one payment. “This is an important part of JPS that I am committed to. Our customer service personnel and professionals have some parameters, especially around St Mary, St Thomas that really it has to be on a case-by-case scenario. I have also said to my team, people are going to have hard times, because not only have they lost power, they have lost a lot more and to work with them, we are going to have some discretion to make sure we don’t overburden them,” said the JPS CEO, even as she made it clear that the company will still have to honour its debt obligations to its suppliers, particularly state-owned oil refinery Petrojam from which it purchases fuel. Tomblin’s pronouncement came less than 24 hours after the company announced that about 20 per cent, or approximately 123,000 customers, would be receiving estimated bills for October as a result of the disruption in its meter-reading schedule. “JPS was unable to carry out meter reading in some communities in the period immediately after the hurricane, as many of the company’s meter readers were redeployed to assist with restoration,” explained Winsome Callum, JPS’s head of corporate communications, who was also a guest at the Monday Exchange. “Our billing system is set up to calculate estimated bills using an average of the last three actual readings of the customer’s meter. Some customers may therefore have been estimated for days when they were without electricity following the hurricane,” Callum added. Checks by the Jamaica Observer have revealed that the affected customers could actually see an initial increase in their bills as the three-month average will include consumption for the months of July and August which are normally characterised by higher energy consumption. Read more:
The Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) has said that some 123,000 customers will receive estimated bills for October. The company said this was due mainly to the disruption in the company’s meter-reading schedule caused by Hurricane Sandy. The JPS said it was unable to carry out meter reading in some communities in the period immediately after the hurricane, as many of the company’s meter readers were redeployed to assist with restoration. However, yesterday the company was unable to state the communities that would be getting these bills. “Our billing system is set up to calculate estimated bills using an average of the last three actual readings of the customer’s meter. Some customers may, therefore, have been estimated for days when they were without electricity following the hurricane,” explained Winsome Callum, JPS head of corporate communication. Callum said in the event that a customer’s usage is overestimated, this will be reflected in the next meter reading. She said based on the reading, any necessary adjustment will be made to the customer’s next bill to reflect his or her actual usage. The JPS says customers who have concerns about their bills are asked to contact customer care centre at 1-888-225-5577 (LIME) or 1-888-935-5577 (Digicel), or visit their nearest customer service office and speak with a representative. Read more : |