THE Jamaica Public Service (JPS) says it has sought the assistance of the Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) and the Government in crafting strategies to deal with electricity theft in a more effective manner.
“The root of the problem is crime and poverty, and no technological solution is going to fix that,” said JPS President and CEO Kelly Tomblin, in addressing questions regarding the failure of the recently implemented Resident Advanced Metering Infrastructure (RAMI) system to eradicate electricity theft.
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Jamaica Public Service President and CEO Kelly Tomblin speaks with Gary Barrow (centre), senior JPS vice-president, and Keith Smith, information technology director at the light and power company, before Thursday
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:
KELLY Tomblin yesterday reiterated the dire financial state of the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS), and expressed disappointment that two State-owned sugar companies in Clarendon and Westmoreland allowed residents of neighbouring communities to steal electricity amounting to more than $100 million. “We have about 230 people, we are spending a lot of money each year working on preventing theft. Those people are out in the community, serving my customers, helping to figure out how to get smaller payment frameworks and doing other customer service, improving reliability,” Tomblin told a news conference at the JPS head office in New Kingston.
“What happens when theft of service occurs. For JPS, it may very well be the death knell. Last year, we were fined by the OUR $30 million, that’s two-and-a-half times our total profit and we again submit that there is no business in Jamaica that can lose two to three million dollars a month and still be viable,” she said, adding that the company is facing bankruptcy as it has broken several covenants with its lenders. “So for us it has reached a very critical point. This has led to us being in breach of our financial covenants. We have been in breach since last year and we continue to be in breach. What that means is that there is a covenant in our loan agreement with our lenders that said we would maintain a specific EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) to debt ratio and we haven’t met that, and we haven’t met it for a year,” Tomblin said. She said that the company’s lenders have been granting it waivers, but JPS is not earning enough to meet its debts. “That is a violation of our agreement, and now we have a lender that has not given us a waiver,” she said. “So in the US, we call it a financial cliff; we call it a precipice here, but the fact remains that JPS cannot be viable in the current framework.” Tomblin spoke to the electricity theft issue affecting the sugar estates in an interview with the Jamaica Observer after the news conference. “It shocks the conscience,” she said, “because if you drive around right now you see it [electricity theft] everywhere. We [Jamaicans] have become very immune to it and I think that is what has gone on here.” Yesterday’s Observer lead story reported Agriculture Minister Roger Clarke as saying that the Government will have to fork out $200 million to remove illegal connections set up at the sugar plantations. Disconnecting the illegal connections, Clarke said, was the “only outstanding matter” in negotiations with the new owners of the factories, Pan Caribbean Sugar Company, to invest in a US$100-million sugar refinery. For years, residents in neighbouring communities were allowed free access to electricity and irrigation water which cost the sugar company $100 million in additional costs annually. The $200 million is being sought to pay for a regularisation programme for the affected communities. Yesterday, Tomblin did not say whether the regularisation process had started, or if the Government had paid any portion of the regularisation costs. She, however, bemoaned the debt the Government had incurred for electricity, and said the State will have to pay up if the JPS is to remain viable. “We certainly have difficulty collecting from the Government, and of course the Government has had its woes,” Tomblin said. “But remember, we bill the Government in Jamaican dollars and we have to pay most of our suppliers, including Petrojam, in US dollars. So the longer they take to pay us, the more detrimental it is to JPS. “So we really do need to get everyone to be current, and for the Government to repay JPS what it owes us,” she said. In the meantime, Tomblin said that new measures are to be implemented to detect electricity theft by major organisations which, she said, is harder to detect than those set up by ordinary citizens. Jamaica Public Service Company President and CEO Kelly Tomblin addressing a news conference at the JPS head office in New Kingston yesterday. 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) 
KINGSTON, Jamaica
JPS president and CEO, Kelly Tomblin. – File
Monopoly power distributor, the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS), has reported a two-thirds drop in its annual net profit to US$12.7 million (J$1.18b) following flat sales last year. Kelly Tomblin, JPS president and CEO, all but blamed the losses on “reduced consumption, at least for paying customers”. She spoke at the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce forum on energy at the Knutsford Court Hotel in Kingston. JPS revenues dipped by almost US$12 million to US$1.14 billion (J$106b) for the year, according to financials published on the Jamaica Stock Exchange. Dividend payments to its Asian and Jamaican owners were slashed year-on-year resulting in a more than 200 per cent rise in cash to US$27.7 million for its year ending December 2012. The power utility paid out US$5 million in ordinary dividends compared with US$44 million a year prior when net profit amounted to US$34.35 million. The utility is owned by Japan’s Marubeni Corporation, 40 per cent; South-Korea-based Korea East-West Power (EWP), 40 per cent; Government of Jamaica, 19.9 per cent; while 3,000 shareholders own the remaining 0.1 per cent of the shares. EWP became a shareholder in April 2011 when it acquired the 40 per cent stake previously held by Abu Dhabi-based TAQA. The company recorded a slight increase in fuel costs which totalled US$777 million for the year ending December 2012, compared with US$765 million in the prior year. Such costs are usually passed on to customers. Working capital also increased to US$147 million from US$139 million year-on-year. Equity increased US$7.6 million to US$387 million year-on-year. The cost of fuel, as well as old inefficient plants, has weighed on the company’s service delivery and its bottom line. JPS has presented Government with its own proposal to develop a new energy plant but has not disclosed the proposed fuel mix. The OUR says it will respond to that proposal, as well as others from potential investors in renewables, in March. business@gleanerjm.com Read more:
JPS president and CEO, Kelly Tomblin. – File
Monopoly power distributor, the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS), has reported a two-thirds drop in its annual net profit to US$12.7 million (J$1.18b) following flat sales last year. Kelly Tomblin, JPS president and CEO, all but blamed the losses on “reduced consumption, at least for paying customers”. She spoke at the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce forum on energy at the Knutsford Court Hotel in Kingston. JPS revenues dipped by almost US$12 million to US$1.14 billion (J$106b) for the year, according to financials published on the Jamaica Stock Exchange. Dividend payments to its Asian and Jamaican owners were slashed year-on-year resulting in a more than 200 per cent rise in cash to US$27.7 million for its year ending December 2012. The power utility paid out US$5 million in ordinary dividends compared with US$44 million a year prior when net profit amounted to US$34.35 million. The utility is owned by Japan’s Marubeni Corporation, 40 per cent; South-Korea-based Korea East-West Power (EWP), 40 per cent; Government of Jamaica, 19.9 per cent; while 3,000 shareholders own the remaining 0.1 per cent of the shares. EWP became a shareholder in April 2011 when it acquired the 40 per cent stake previously held by Abu Dhabi-based TAQA. The company recorded a slight increase in fuel costs which totalled US$777 million for the year ending December 2012, compared with US$765 million in the prior year. Such costs are usually passed on to customers. Working capital also increased to US$147 million from US$139 million year-on-year. Equity increased US$7.6 million to US$387 million year-on-year. The cost of fuel, as well as old inefficient plants, has weighed on the company’s service delivery and its bottom line. JPS has presented Government with its own proposal to develop a new energy plant but has not disclosed the proposed fuel mix. The OUR says it will respond to that proposal, as well as others from potential investors in renewables, in March. business@gleanerjm.com Read more:
THE Jamaica Public Service (JPS) says it will be rolling out an education campaign as it seeks to partner with communities to manage overhanging vegetation around utility poles. President of JPS Kelly Tomblin said while the company has always had a vegetation management programme, it will be stepping up its efforts to deal with the problem, which contributed in part to the more than 6,000 poles that fell during the passage of Hurricane Sandy last month.
“When I first came I contacted some experts on vegetation management to come down to Jamaica and work with our team and start a new vegetation programme a month before the hurricane,” Tomblin told editors and reporters at the Jamaica Observer weekly Monday Exchange held at the newspaper’s head office in Kingston. Vegetation management, she said, is not only about removing the overhanging trees and shrubs but being able to stump their regrowth through the use of chemicals. “We have recently made some changes in how we do vegetation control,” Tomblin said. She said vegetation management is particularly challenging in Jamaica because of the remote areas and how plants such as bamboo grow, and as such there is need for another approach. “Vegetation management requires a lot of community interaction… and so one of the things we hope to have more is community partnership in vegetation control both on individual owner perspective and community,” Tomblin said. Speaking to the power company‘s handling of the restoration programme across the island in the aftermath of the category one storm, Tomblin said there is a limitation to the appropriate resources the company has at its disposal. “We all wish we had unlimited resources, and if we did, instead of 80 crews we would have trained and ready to go 200 crews, but that would mean an even greater upward pressure on electric prices because most time we are not having an outage,” Tomblin said. Given the challenges, Tomblin said the company did well in restoring power to 90 per cent of its customers in four days. “From my more than two decades being involved in storm restoration, having 90 per cent of customers back in power after a hurricane is a very good solid performance,” she said. “To get 90 per cent of the people back in four days, I don’t know how much you can improve on that,” she added, noting that there are ways to make significant improvement on the remaining 10 per cent. She said there is a disconnect in the understanding of what the JPS teams really do go through and what is required. “If I tell a guy from the United States to take a pole and walk down two miles they would look at me like I have three heads, because they are not going to put that on their back and walk down the hill, but our guys have to do that,” she said. To date, the JPS said only 2,000 of its 480,000 customers are still without power. For these customers, Tomblin said the workers are having problems accessing the areas because of landslide and other challenges. The preliminary estimate for the restoration works is said to be in the region of US$7 million, and is expected to climb. Read more:
ELECTRICITY theft continues to hit the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) hard, amounting to US$32 million so far this year. In fact, so pervasive has been the illegal activity that the company is acknowledging that it is running out of options to stem it. “It’s at a high rate, and I see it increasing, simply because as electricity rates increase… We have run out of options, we have just run out of options,” Kelly Tomblin, JPS’s president and CEO told the Jamaica Observer Monday Exchange yesterday.
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