The Jamaica Public Service Company, JPS, says it has already spent US$4 million to repair damage caused by Hurricane Sandy.
And JPS vice president for technical services Ricardo Rennalls says it is projected that the entire restoration process will cost over US$7 million.
Speaking at a press conference this morning to update the country on the JPS restoration work, Rennals disclosed that the compaany suffered extensive damage to its distribution system.
He says the JPS lost thousands of electricity poles and 130 transformers, but has already restored over 1,500 poles.
While praising the performance of the company throughout the
The Jamaica Public Service Company, JPS, says it has already spent US$4 million to repair damage caused by Hurricane Sandy. And JPS vice president for technical services Ricardo Rennalls says it is projected that the entire restoration process will cost over US$7 million. Speaking at a press conference this morning to update the country on the JPS restoration work, Rennals disclosed that the compaany suffered extensive damage to its distribution system. He says the JPS lost thousands of electricity poles and 130 transformers, but has already restored over 1,500 poles. While praising the performance of the company throughout the
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: “MAN A WRITE and God a rub out,” our people say. To be more refined you can also choose “Man proposes, God disposes.” HOWEVER you say it, man is not in charge these days. Higher powers rule. A week or so ago, we went up against Sandy, the “crumoochin” tropical storm/hurricane which turned out to be a tyrant in disguise. Before the bout began, it seemed that we would win. Sandy was supposed to be just a little pyah-pyah breeze-blow, but now we know. Water more than our feeble power. KINGSTON, Jamaica – Residents along Windward Road today renewed pleas for the Jamaica Public Service (JPS) to fix a broken utility pole in the area The residents said that while they are aware the JPS continues work to remove downed utility poles across the island, they feel the broken pole is in need of urgent attention. They fear the wires may be energised, posing serious threat to passersby. “The pole is hanging over the roadway and we fear it may fall at any time and damage a member of the public,” resident Foster Dawkins KINGSTON, Jamaica – Residents along Windward Road today renewed pleas for the Jamaica Public Service (JPS) to fix a broken utility pole in the area The residents said that while they are aware the JPS continues work to remove downed utility poles across the island, they feel the broken pole is in need of urgent attention. They fear the wires may be energised, posing serious threat to passersby. “The pole is hanging over the roadway and we fear it may fall at any time and damage a member of the public,” resident Foster Dawkins
JPS customers in areas like this in Eastern Jamaica which was devastated by Hurricane Sandy last month will benefit from some leniency with bill payments from the light and power company.