Charlene Stuart, Staff Reporter
Several houses remain without electricity following a nationwide power outage early yesterday morning.
The Jamaica Public Service Company, JPS, is to challenge yesterday’s Supreme Court ruling regarding the exclusivity of
The Office of
We were truly impressed with what Phillip Paulwell has done at his home – the conversion to solar as its primary source of electric power.
Mr Paulwell, of course, is not the first person in Jamaica to do this. But as minister with responsibility for energy, his may be a persuasive example for a more robust Jamaican engagement of renewable energy sources, to reduce the use of petroleum that accounts for more than 90 per cent of energy. Oil is not only expensive, but more environmentally pollutant than other fuels.
Additionally, sunshine, as a fuel, is plentiful. The sun is estimated to generate more energy in an hour than the world’s requirement for a year.
The downside of solar energy to power a national grid, as with many renewables, is its supply and distribution instability, and the cost of technology – though declining – is still relatively expensive. The cost will have to reach grid parity with other technologies before it begins to replace other fuels.
Solar beneficial but …
In the meantime, however, some firms and private individuals will find solar a useful and attractive alternative to oil and other hydrocarbons. Some governments may even find it economically, politically and environmentally strategic to encourage its use, which we presume to be the point of Mr Paulwell’s showing off of his solar panels and storage batteries.
Indeed, most people will find extremely attractive, and would be happy to enjoy, an 83 per cent decline in their monthly electricity bills from the light and power company, as has been reported by Mr Paulwell. He now pays around J$4,000 a month.
But there is a catch. Few Jamaicans could upfront the J$2 million that Mr Paulwell invested for his home conversion. Given his past bills, Mr Pauwell will recoup his investment in around seven years and could reasonably enjoy returns on his capital for another eight.
So, as attractive as these numbers seem, the returns are too far in the future and the upfront costs too high to encourage hordes of individuals to leave the national grid for solar. Nor are firms, except for the few for which the economics are compelling, likely to do so in droves.
Mr Paulwell, wearing his energy hat, has to run on many tracks at the same time. He must promote policies that will make solar and other renewables attractive and affordable.
An economically competitive grid
But more urgently, he has to ensure that there is a more efficient and economically competitive national grid.
At around US$0.40 per kilowatt-hour, Jamaica has among the most expensive electricity in the Caribbean. This has been a major contributor to the denuding of the Jamaican manufacturing sector and also has a hobbling effect on services – whose operations are heavily electricity dependent.
There has been much heated debate in recent years on these issues, including, at one point, a decision to proceed with a conversion to natural gas at some of our power plants. The Jamaica Public Service Company has the monopoly for the transmission and distribution of electricity, and won the tender for more than 400 megawatts of gas-fired power plants. That process, however, seems to have run out of steam, as, it appears, have Mr Paulwell’s other energy initiatives.
Energy is too important a matter to be subject to the Jamaican penchant for talk without effective action.
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/20120716/cleisure/cleisure1.html
THE Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) says it has halted an electricity theft scam that was taking place in Seaview Gardens, St Andrew.
1. Overview
1.1 PURPOSE
1.1a What is the purpose of the Net Billing Standard Offer Program?
The Net Billing Standard Offer Program is intended to support greater use of renewable sources of energy in
Jamaica. The program seeks to encourage electricity production by small intermittent sources of renewable
energy of 100kW or less, via a simple contract arrangement. These installations will require supplemental power
from the JPS and will on occasion have excess electricity, which can be sold to the utility – so long as the Gross
System Output does not exceed 10kW AC output for residential facilities, or 100kW for commercial facilities.
1.1b Who Initiated this Program?
The Government of Jamaica as part of its Energy Policy has proposed a number of initiatives to make investment
in electricity generation for the public grid from renewable sources, economically viable. The Government has set a
target where 15% of total generation should be provided from renewable energy sources by 2015. The
OUR, which is responsible for the addition of generating capacity to the grid, has reserved a block of capacity for
renewable sources, one portion of which should be in the category of 100kW or less.
read more…
http://www.myjpsco.com/_pdfs/
Barbara Gayle,
The Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) has ramped up its energy-conservation campaign by launching a new plan to help customers take control of their usage, even as it is granted new powers to go after individuals and businesses engaged in illegally abstracting electricity to the tune of about US$50 million (J$4.43 billion) annually.
President and chief executive officer, JPS, Kelly Tomblin, launched the SmartEnergy programme as an interim conservation measure as the company prepares to invest US$600 million in a new liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant in Old Harbour, St Catherine, cognisant that, if goes as planned, it will result in customers paying some 30 per cent less for electricity.
Tomblin initiated the programme against the background of what the JPS said, in a release, was a question posed by customers as to what they should do to reduce their light bills while the plant, scheduled to be completed in late 2014, is constructed.
The JPS CEO said the focus should be on conservation and efficiency.
To that end, the release said, the JPS “is leading by example”, by rolling out the programme at its Ruthven Road, St Andrew, offices where the level of conservation will be measured over time to assess the gains.
“SmartEnergy includes several initiatives aimed at helping customers take control of their usage by making the right choices, from the point of purchasing to how equipment and appliances are used,” said the statement.
Speaking at the launch event recently, Tomblin told participants JPS has a responsibility to guide customers in their energy usage, and should practise the very things it is asking customers to do.
She pointed out that in 2011, an independent evaluation was conducted by the Washington-based Castalia Strategic Advisors on options to bring down energy costs in Jamaica.
The consultants listed energy efficiency among their recommendations, indicating that customers could reduce their bills by up to 16 per cent by increasing the use of more energy-efficient technologies, Tomblin added.
“This is supported by similar research in Barbados and other countries,” the president and CEO said, adding that “JPS has a responsibility to help our customers realise the gains of using energy efficiently”.
The SmartEnergy plan will include an office energy-efficiency programme, an energy audit-certification seminar, stakeholder-education meetings, and an energy management-training programme for business customers.
According to the JPS, the Ruthven Road office will be the pilot for the company’s office energy-efficiency programme, which involves conducting an initial review of usage at that location, and working with the staff to adjust its pattern over time, in order to cut down on consumption.
Separately, the JPS’s head of corporate communications, Winsome Callum, responding to queries from Wednesday Business, indicated that a new back-billing policy approved by the Office of Utilities Regulation regarding, among other things, the illegal abstraction of electricity, will likely affect all categories of customers – residential, small commercial, large commercial and industrial.
The policy will affect customers across the island and allows back-billing for up to six years in some specified cases of irregularities.
She said it would be difficult to say approximately how many customers could be immediately impacted by the new policy, which took effect on June 1, because “this depends on the number of customers audited, and the number found with irregularities”.
Asked to quantify outstanding sums to the JPS as a result of illegally abstracted electricity, irregularities or under-billing, which the company has been trying to recover through back-billing, Callum said: “JPS loses approximately US$50 million per year as a result of illegally abstracted electricity.”
mcpherse.thompson@gleanerjm.com
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20120620/business/business5.html
Electricity charges are expected to drop by up to six per cent this month.
This after the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) lowered the fuel and IPP charges to customers by just over $2 per kilowatt hour (kWh), when compared to the rate used in May.
According to the JPS, this means that a typical residential customer whose usage remains constant at 200 kWh will see a reduction of approximately six per cent in their electricity bill.
In a statement last evening, the light and power company said the decision to reduce its fuel and IPP charges was based on the recent downward trend in oil prices.
GCT Removed from Electricity Used by Residential Customers
June 6, 2012
Prime Minister, the Most Honourable Portia Simpson Miller, in her budget presentation yesterday announced the complete removal of General Consumption Tax (GCT) from the electricity used by residential customers. This reverses an announcement made earlier by the Minister of Finance that GCT would be applied to residential usage over 300 kWh. Business customers will still pay GCT on their electricity usage.
JPS is awaiting further details from the Ministry of Finance regarding the impact of GCT on related services, and will share this information with the public in due course.
In her presentation, the Prime Minister also spoke to initiatives to ensure a secure energy future for Jamaica, which she said was crucial and needs to be urgently addressed to enable the country to capitalize on opportunities. She made the following points:
1) Fuel Diversification: The Government is awaiting the outcome of bids and the associated negotiations for the provision of natural gas and the regassification infrastructure.
2) Renewables: Emphasis will be placed on the use of more renewables as well as waste and biofuels for generating electricity.
3) Conservation: The Government will be setting an example by implementing projects to reduce energy use. The Government will therefore be taking the lead in the national conservation effort, with its goal being a 30% reduction in the energy bill. The Prime Minister indicated that the pilot project for the conservation efforts would begin at the Office of the Prime Minister.