Portia Simpson Miller Archives

Portia wants JPS to give discount to seniors

April 5, 2016 Webmaster

SIMPSON MILLER… I am not making the appeal for senior citizens in South West St Andrew alone

MEMBER of Parliament for South West St Andrew Portia Simpson Miller last Thursday pleaded with the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) to implement a discounted energy plan for senior citizens.

Simpson Miller, who presented the main address at a JPS Career Expo held at Caribbean Palms community centre, said that she understood the plight of senior citizens, especially those who no longer earn an income, people who get by no little or no savings, are handicapped by varying and expensive medical complaints, and even those who are dependent on their struggling children and caregivers who try to ensure the comfort of their elders.

“I am aware that every year the company incurs millions of dollars in losses, but I have recognised that our senior citizens are struggling to produce the funds to make the necessary payments on their electricity bills monthly,” Simpson Miller said.

“I am going to beg the JPS to see how they can work out a reasonable rate for our senior citizens. I am not making the appeal for senior citizens in South West St Andrew alone, but for every senior citizen across the country. A number of them have to depend on their children, many of whom are already financially burdened, to survive,” Simpson Miller added.Simpson Miller, leader of the Opposition People’s National Party, said that she was aware that there are a number of things that JPS will have to follow but she hoped they would be able to render some assistance to the vulnerable senior citizens group.

“I hope [too] that you (JPS) could consider how you could work into your plans a way that you could help an old man already struggling to buy food and medication or that crippled man or woman that you are able to give a [special] rate so that these senior citizens, their children or those people who assist them with their bills would not have it so hard finding the funds,” Simpson Miller said.

Jamaica Observer

Electricity Government LNG News

Company with Jamaican connection offers to bail out EWI

May 2, 2014 Webmaster

Chinese Company

A Chinese company based here has approached the Government’s investment company, Jamaica Promotions Corporation (Jampro), with a view to assist with the fallout arising from Energy World International’s (EWI‘s) failed bid to meet all the requirements to construct a booster energy plant on the island.

A usually reliable source told the Jamaica Observer that officials of the Chinese company met with executives of Jampro in New Kingston yesterday and offered to work with the island to get the project off the ground.

“During the meeting with Jampro, the Chinese suggested that they were willing to work with EWI, and vowed that they could secure the necessary financing from China’s Ex-Im Bank to get the 381-megawatt project going,” the source said.

“The Chinese have said that they were also willing to meet with the Ministry of Science, Technology, Energy, and Mining as early as tomorrow (today) to get things started,” the impeccable source said.

Hong Kong-based EWI missed its deadline to pay a performance bond of US$37 million last Thursday.

The total cost of financing the project is US$737 million, of which one per cent — US$7.37 million — had been paid over as part of the bond arrangement.

However, EWI was pushed against the wall after it emerged that the Inter-American Development Bank, upon which EWI was relying to provide non-equity financing for the project, had opted against doing so, citing breaches of Jamaica’s procurement procedures in the award of the contract.

EWI was the preferred bidder to build a power plant that would bolster the national grid by supplying it with 381 megawatts of generating capacity.

The implementation of the natural gas-fuelled project would result in Jamaicans paying less for electricity, the cost of which is prohibitive to some, and has led to widespread stealing of the commodity. Jamaicans pay 42 US cents per kilowatt hour for electricity, and it is believed that when the project is fully implemented the cost will be reduced by approximately 30 per cent.

EWI has committed to deliver electricity to the grid at 12.88 US cents per kilowatt hour.

The latest move by the Chinese company would serve as the fillip that the embattled EWI needs, following countless calls for the company to be rejected as the preferred choice of generating capacity supplier.

The Office of the Contractor General (OCG) had said in a report last year that Energy Minister Phillip Paulwell intervened improperly in the bidding process by including EWI’s proposal after the closure of the bid acceptance period.

Based on that, the OCG said that the bidding process had been compromised and described the Office of Utilities Regulation’s (OUR’s) acceptance of EWI’s proposal as unfair.

Paulwell has been under fire in recent days, with the Opposition Jamaica Labour Party calling on Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller to relieve him of portfolio responsibility for energy over the EWI affair.

Another source said that Simpson Miller met yesterday with members of the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica, who suggested that she abandon the entire process of selection and allow a special monitoring committee to handle affairs relating to the matter.

Simpson Miller, the source said, had already laid down some conditionalities to EWI and expects the company to respond to her by Monday.

EWI, the energy arm of Energy World Corporation, is engaged in the production and sale of power and natural gas in several countries.

The company was the second preferred bidder behind United States-based consortium Azurest-Cambridge, but was upgraded last October when Azurest was disqualified after it failed to meet a 15-day deadline to produce a one per cent security bid for the project, which it projected would cost US$690 million to build.

Jamaica Observer;

Alternative Energy Electricity Energy Saving Government News Solar Energy

Has Mr Pickersgill been sidelined on Goat Islands?

March 7, 2014 Webmaster

AS the discussion about the building of a port at Goat Islands heats up, we note that the minister with responsibility for environment and climate change, Mr Robert Pickersgill, has been silent on the subject.

Minister Pickersgill’s absence from the debate is especially glaring because it was he, while on a five-day visit to China with Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller and her team last August, who brought the matter into the public domain when he told representatives of China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) that the location was “now under very serious consideration”.

It’s glaring, too, given the environmental implications of building port facilities, with the accompanying infrastructure, in an area zoned for fish sanctuaries, game reserves, and housing what is perhaps the most pristine dry limestone forest in the region.

Housing, Transport and Works Minister Dr Omar Davies has been the one doing all the talking on this issue. To date, the most details the country has been fed about the much-talked-about project came in his presentation to Parliament last week Tuesday in which he outlined the basic scope of the works.

According to Dr Davies, the activities to be carried out under phase one include dredging and land reclamation, the construction of berths, warehouses, an industrial park, a container terminal, bridges, roads, pipelines, sewage lines and a sewage treatment plant.

CHEC intends, too, to build a coal-fired plant to avoid the high cost of electricity provided by the Jamaica Public Service Company.

While we maintain that environmental preservation and development do not have to be at odds with each other, we cannot overlook the effect of burning coal on air quality. In China, for instance, coal is used for about 65 per cent of its energy needs, but the Government is now seeking to cut its reliance on the fuel source by two percentage points a year.

Importantly, when coal is burned, it releases carbon dioxide, the main culprit in global warming and climate change.

On that basis, as Ms Dianna McCaulay rightly pointed out last week, the decision to allow such a plant in Jamaica is not in line with the country’s draft climate change policy. Neither does it appear to be in line with Vision 2030, which seeks to phase out fossil fuels to the point where 20 per cent of the energy mix will be supplied by renewable sources by 2030.

Surely, the apparent contradictions have not escaped Minister Pickersgill and the technocrats in his ministry. What, then, accounts for his silence?

Is the minister toeing the party line, or is he no longer committed to his oft repeated phrase “with climate change we must change”?

Jamaica Observer;

Electricity Government LNG News

Shake up, OUR

October 24, 2013 Webmaster

IN THE face of Energy World International’s (EWI) placement of its US$7-million security bond on the 360-megawatt power plant deal, it is opportune for the Government to take a hard look at the Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) and take some serious decisions about the place. And they must be quick about it.

The first order of business is to find an obviously strong, competent and independent-minded head for the place, with a clear understanding that part of his or her mandate is cleaning shop, even as it gets on with the job of completing the energy project.

Putting this process in train lies squarely with Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller. It is her obligation, under the OUR Act, to recommend the candidate for the post of director general of the regulatory body to the governor general. If, as we suspect, it was the case in the past that prime ministers allowed line ministers to effectively name the nominee, we recommend that Mrs Simpson Miller break with practice.

For ceding that responsibility, at this time, to Phillip Paulwell, would be to handicap the appointee, given the collapse of confidence in Mr Paulwell’s mining and energy ministry to get anything right, given the mess that has been made of the power plant issue.

To be fair, that is not all Mr Paulwell’s fault. Much, and perhaps most, of the blame rests with the OUR.

A CLUMSY HANDLING OF THE MATTER

That Jamaican consumers pay an unaffordable economic rent for electricity, which at US$0.42 per kilowatt-hour is among the highest in the region, is well known. Understand that it makes our firms uncompetitive, which, in turn, constrains economic growth.

Yet the OUR, which has been governing the responsibility for procurement of newer, and supposedly cheaper, generating capacity, has, at best, and perhaps charitably, been clumsy and bungling in its several attempts at the process. Its latest was the worse.

Delivering cheaper energy to Jamaica, which would be good for the economy, also coincides with Mr Paulwell’s political interest/ambition. It is understandable that when EWI declared an interest in Jamaica, with an apparently attractive proposal, that he would be keen to have that considered, notwithstanding that it was after the OUR’s initial deadline for unsolicited offers/expressions of interest.

THE OUR NEEDS A FIX

The response of those already engaged in the process, who might have felt they were in the most advantageous positions, was entirely predictable. The claim that the goalpost was being shifted was obvious.

But worse than Mr Paulwell was the OUR. The agency disagrees with the Office of the Contractor General that it breached the procurement rules; that EWI’s proposal should not have been entertained; and that if it was to be considered, the initial request for proposal abandoned and the process started anew. Beyond the technical issues of the procurement rules is the weak, or failed communication strategy on this issue, which has left the public uneasy about the basis of its decision.

The OUR is a critical regulatory agency. But it is need for an urgent fix. That is why we feel that a public-private sector oversight group should be part of the strategy for this energy project.

Mobile Jamaica Gleaner;

Government News

Paulwell: No PetroCaribe interest rate hike expected

August 8, 2013 Webmaster

PAULWELL

Electricity Government News
Energy-Bill Reduction Falls Short Of Target

May 3, 2013 Webmaster

Students at Hammersmith Preparatory School in Trelawny perform during the official opening of the institution last week. More than 70 children are enrolled at the school. – CONTRIBUTED

Daraine Luton, Senior Staff Reporter

THE TARGETED reduction of the consumption of energy within the public sector last year failed to meet the announced objective, falling short by two thirds.

Energy Minister Phillip Paulwell told

Electricity Government News
Energy-Bill Reduction Falls Short Of Target

May 3, 2013 jrobinson

Students at Hammersmith Preparatory School in Trelawny perform during the official opening of the institution last week. More than 70 children are enrolled at the school. – CONTRIBUTED

Daraine Luton, Senior Staff Reporter

THE TARGETED reduction of the consumption of energy within the public sector last year failed to meet the announced objective, falling short by two thirds.

Energy Minister Phillip Paulwell told

Alternative Energy Electricity Government News
Change A Coming – Energy Minister Says Positive Move To Reduce Electricity Rates On The Horizon

April 25, 2013 jrobinson

Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller listens as Energy Minister Phillip Paulwell makes his presentation during the Budget Debate yesterday. – Norman Grindley/Chief Photographer

Gary Spaulding,

Government News
EDITORIAL – Paulwell, Mas And The Energy Crisis

February 11, 2013 jrobinson

As you read this, Phillip Paulwell, Jamaica’s energy minister, is likely playing Mas in Trinidad at its annual carnival. Jamaicans may be minded to say that he is playing something else.

People here are also likely to conclude that the energy minister’s sojourn to Trinidad, and whatever he may be getting up to in Port-of-Spain, San Fernando, Arima, Diego Martin, or wherever, also says something about Mr Paulwell’s sense for priorities. That is a matter on which we would like to hear the view of Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller.

First, though, we must make clear that this newspaper does not begrudge Mr Paulwell, or anyone else, his right to annual holidays. Nor would we normally care should any Jamaican decide to jet off to Port-of-Spain to join a carnival band, swig rum and dance up a storm at the Savannah. Which, of course, is not a claim we make of Mr Paulwell, not withstanding our unease at his absence from Jamaica at this time.

Here is the context. Jamaica faces not merely a crisis, but an energy emergency. Our sense, though, is that no one in the Government, including the portfolio minister, seems to grasp either the depth or the immediacy of the problem – at least not sufficiently for it to impinge on the bacchanal.

In Trinidad and Tobago, where the music of ‘Despas’, Destra, Machel and others may be echoing in Mr Paulwell’s head, firms pay around US$0.05 per kilowatt-hour for electricity. The Trinidadians have oil and gas and enjoy government subsidies on their power bill.

In energy-deficient Jamaica, we pay upwards of US$0.41 per kilowatt-hour for electricity, which is a significant input in production and a high price which helps to make Jamaican firms uncompetitive. Indeed, over the past decade and a half, several plants that built things in Jamaica have migrated in favour of Trinidad, with which we run a trade deficit of nearly US$1 billion.

ENERGY WAFFLE

For more than a decade, Jamaican administrations have waffled and procrastinated over an energy policy to deliver cheaper electricity prices. Recently, under Mr Paulwell’s watch, there has been the final slow-motion collapse of a project that was to make liquefied natural gas (LNG) as the fuel of choice and to deliver electricity at between a 33 and 40 per cent below current prices.

Last week, for instance, the Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) rescinded the Jamaica Public Service Company’s (JPS) position as the preferred bidder on a 360-megawatt, gas-fired power plant because the light and power company missed deadlines to demonstrate that it could meet the benchmark price. The problem is that JPS, having assumed the effort to source the fuel after the Government backed out, has been unable to find LNG cheap enough for the project to make sense at the target price.

Minister Paulwell claimed to have been blindsided by the OUR actions, suggesting that he was in favour of giving JPS additional time, without the continued financial burden of a performance bond, to rescue the deal. The upshot has been a state of confusion, in the Government and elsewhere, over energy. The situation is in need of a steady and steadying hand.

In the midst of this situation, Mr Paulwell chose carnival – the kind of stuff that would make Les Green‘s day.

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.

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Alternative Energy Electricity Government News Solar Energy
Power Wheeling Programme Must Include Solar And Wind

January 28, 2013 Webmaster

Shakuntala Makhijani , Guest Columnist

By Shakuntala Makhijani , Guest Columnist

Last month, electricity regulator, the Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR), released recommendations for Jamaica‘s anticipated electricity wheeling programme.

Electricity wheeling has been proposed in Jamaica as a way to promote distributed power generation, especially from renewable-energy sources.

Under the proposed wheeling programme, a company or individual could generate electricity in one part of the country and pay the grid operator – the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) – a fee to transport that power to another location where it will be used.

Because JPS currently has a monopoly on electricity distribution, a company would only be able to send electricity over the grid to be consumed at a location that it also owns. For example, a sugar company that generates electricity at a sugar refinery using bagasse can send excess power to its offices in Kingston to avoid paying high electricity bills there, but cannot sell electricity to another entity.

Several of Jamaica’s large energy consumers are considering participating in the forthcoming wheeling programme to support investments in renewable energy.

Hotel chain Sandals, the Caribbean’s largest poultry producer Jamaica Broilers, and the National Water Commission, the largest single electricity consumer in the country, all have plans to wheel power.

A National Irrigation Commission project using wind energy to power irrigation pumps also wants to participate in the programme.

Only for firm generation capacity

At a recent public consultation, however, OUR officials confirmed that the electricity wheeling programme will be intended only for firm generation capacity – meaning it will exclude variable renewable-energy sources such as solar and wind.

Electricity wheeling provides an opportunity to promote distributed renewable generation, especially at the large commercial or industrial scale (more than 100 kilowatts to several megawatts).

For this reason, Worldwatch has submitted a public comment to OUR recommending, based on our research in renewable energy transition in Jamaica, that the regulator reconsider its exclusion of variable capacity and open the electricity wheeling programme to all renewable-energy sources.

Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller‘s administration has publicly committed to the ambitious goal of 30 per cent renewable energy by 2030. In our view, the Jamaican government has every reason to ensure that Jamaica can meet these targets by allowing all renewable-energy sources to participate in programmes, such as electricity wheeling.

For its own economic development, Jamaica’s Government would be well advised to mandate that the utilities regulation office and the national utility continue and expand ongoing efforts to strengthen Jamaica’s national electricity grid in order to accommodate new, variable renewable generation in accordance with national targets.

In the meantime, however, Jamaica’s electricity generation mix is dominated by diesel and fuel oil – and planned liquefied natural gas capacity – which can be rapidly fired up or down in response to variable renewable generation and changes in electricity demand.

So long as JPS and OUR undertake precautions to address grid congestion, voltage regulation, and other issues associated with distributed generation, Jamaica’s grid should be capable of integrating variable renewable capacity through the wheeling programme.

Commercial and industrial-scale renewable electricity generation is a cost-effective way to meet the Jamaican Government’s renewable energy targets.

Fees should be an incentive

Electricity wheeling should, therefore, include variable-generation capacity in order to promote development of solar and wind-energy technologies at this scale.

For this to be successful, it is critical that regulators assure that fees are reasonable enough to insure that distributed generators will have an incentive to participate in the programme.

Guidance from the regulatory office is also needed to clarify eligibility criteria for a single entity under the wheeling programme. For example, if the Sandals resort chain participates in a wheeling programme, why should it not be allowed to send electricity generated at one resort to another? However, each resort in the Sandals chain is registered as a separate entity, creating uncertainty as to whether such use of the wheeling system would be permitted.

Resolving this issue before electricity wheeling guidelines are finalised will help avoid potential delays and allow ready projects to be implemented on schedule.

As Jamaica’s electricity regulator, it is the responsibility of the utility regulatory office to ensure that the national electricity grid is prepared to accommodate the new renewable electricity capacity – both firm and variable – needed to meet the Government’s 30 per cent target.

Given the high cost of the current petroleum-based electricity system and the country’s strong renewable-energy resources, Jamaica can transition to a secure and reliable renewable-energy system while still reducing electricity costs for consumers.

The Worldwatch Institute is currently finalising a Sustainable Electricity Roadmap for Jamaica that details Jamaica’s abundant renewable energy potential and recommends grid integration and policy solutions for reliably harnessing these resources to help achieve the country’s long-term sustainable energy goals.

Shakuntala Makhijani is a representative of Worldwatch Institute, which is currently working on sustainable energy roadmaps for the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Jamaica. mkonold@worldwatch.org business@gleanerjm.com

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