THE Jamaica Public Service Company Limited (JPS) has been given until September 27 to provide a detailed report to the Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) on Saturday’s islandwide blackout.
A release from the OUR said that,as stipulated in the Electricity Act, 2015, the light and power company is obliged to provide a report to the regulator within 30 days of the date of restoration of power.
The OUR said it will indicate the critical data and other necessary information which should be included in the detailed report on the incident. At the meeting between the OUR and the JPS on Tuesday to discuss the power provider’s preliminary report, the implications of the power outage and the way forward, the regulatory body expressed disappointment with the islandwide power outage, the frequency of such events, and the negative impact on customers.
The OUR urged the JPS to be thorough and rigorous in its investigation and analysis of the incident and requested that they outline corrective measures to safeguard against recurrences, the release said. It added that the JPS has agreed to be guided by the position outlined by the regulator regarding the conduct of its investigation.
Deputy director general of the OUR, Hopeton Heron, said: “Once we have received all the required information from the JPS, the OUR is committed to completing its review of the information as well as its own investigation of the outage, within 30 days. We recognise the significant impact that this islandwide outage has had on customers and so we are committed to exerting all efforts to ensure that we quickly and efficiently do our own analysis and make our recommendations.”
He said, too, that the OUR will be insisting on the conduct of a thorough review of the electricity system including their approach to grid planning, design, installation, operation and maintenance.
The Jamaica Public Service (JPS) has promised to provide a more reliable service to its many customers in sections of Hanover, who have been experiencing frequent power outages.
According to the company’s recently appointed operations manager for the Hanover, Winston Bansie, problems with the feeder that supplies power across sections of the parish, including the capital town, Lucea, have led to the frequent power outages and flickering being experienced.
“There is more than one thing that affects that feeder. One of them being the maintenance within the parish,” said Bansie, adding that “the flickering is a part of the overall JPS’ maintenance protection scheme”.
Bansie, who was speaking at the recent regular monthly meeting of the Hanover Parish Council explained that work on the two feeders that supply power to the parish will be undertaken immediately.
He told the meeting that the company has mandated a new management team to have the service in the parish improved. His first job, he added, is to undertake maintenance within the parish and to put the least reliable feeder on another source.
The utility company has also promised to step up the repairs of malfunctioning streetlights across the parish.
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THRICE in the last two months or so, where this writer lives has been out of power for more than three hours – twice for about 12 hours. Power outages are almost daily affairs for many Jamaicans and the usual excuse about the “teams” being too busy tending to other faults to respond with alacrity no longer rings with any conviction.
Perhaps a part of the problem is that JPS appears to view “emergency” differently from their customers. A customer experiencing a power outage calling JPS is first presented with an option relating to bill balance or about payment to JPS. The second option is to report an emergency. When one enters that menu number, one is reminded that the line is for emergencies only and further input is required from the customer to proceed. The caller is then reminded about recording of the call for quality purposes. Then, and only then, can one speak to a representative about the emergency
Tropical Storm Leslie has hit Bermuda with high winds and heavy rains, causing power outages and flooding in parts of the island.
However, there were no immediate reports of major damage or personal injuries.
The Bermuda Electric Light Company reported five major power outages, knocking out power to 650 customers, before Leslie, packing sustained winds of 60 miles per hour, passed the island just before noon around 145 miles to the east.
Bus and ferry services as well as flights were cancelled, with the exception of a British Airways flight from London, which was scheduled to land in the afternoon.
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/latest/article.php?id=39792
A Jamaica Public Service Company engineer at work – File Photo
The Office of Utilities Utilities Regulation (OUR) says it expects to get additional information from the Jamaica Public Service (JPS) by tomorrow as it probes the recent islandwide power outage.
The Jamaica Public Service Company, JPS has submitted its report outlining the reasons for the islandwide power outage on the weekend, to the Office of Utilities Regulation, OUR.
Corporate Communications Manager at the JPS Winsome Callum told RJR News that several factors contributed to the power outage.
She however declined to provide details, stating that a report on the matter was submitted to the OUR today.
Sections of the island were left in darkness between midnight Sunday and early yesterday morning.
The JPS said it would conduct a probe to determine the cause of the system failure.
http://rjrnewsonline.com/news/local/jps-submits-report-islandwide-blackout
