Significant reduction expected for September JPS bills - Vaz

Energy Minister Daryl Vaz says, based on discussions with the president of the Jamaica Public Service (JPS) this morning, customers of the utility company should see a significant reduction in their electricity bills for this month.

Vaz, who spoke to The STAR via telephone, stated that JPS President, Hugh Grant, has advised him that utility bills are going out today for the September billing cycle, which will be significantly lower than last month's.

"He has confirmed to me that significant reduction should be seen as per the instruction of the OUR (Office of Utilities Regulation) and of course the advocacy of the government, through me as minister of energy," Vaz said. 

"So, I will see what the results are, but I am expecting that people will be much happier this month than last month. It has been a tough period for everyone, especially JPS customers, who were without electrical power following the passage of hurricane Beryl on July 3. So it will be somewhat of reprieve for them, as there were many complaints from customers, who had received high electricity bills, even though they were without power for two to four weeks in some instances," Vaz declared.

The OUR had earlier instructed JPS to reduce some customers’ bills in the next billing period.

The scale and extensiveness of the JPS bill increase for the month of August reportedly came to the OUR’s attention after the utility company began to dispatch the bills, which sparked criticism and complaints from customers about high electricity charges.

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