JPS boosts emergency response with foreign contractors

After last year's ordeal, when thousands of Jamaica Public Service (JPS) customers were left without electricity for months following Hurricane Beryl, the utility company is taking no chances this time around.

JPS has announced the signing of major agreements with two North American contracting firms to secure the services of hundreds of linemen who will be deployed to support restoration efforts, should Jamaica be hit by a hurricane this year.

"This arrangement will mean more boots on the ground from day one," said JPS president and CEO, Hugh Grant.

"The goal is to pre-emptively have the resources in place ahead of a hurricane, to allow for safe, quick restoration of power to our customers. The Jamaican public does not have an appetite for long-duration outages, and neither do we. We are taking deliberate steps to fix that."

Under the arrangement, the foreign contractors will significantly bolster JPS' hurricane-response capabilities providing an experienced team, trained in large-scale restoration, to assist local linemen.

Holland Power Services is one of the entities contracted to assist the JPS in the event of disaster. Its vice president of utility relations, Alan Bradshaw, underscored the firm's commitment to swift and seamless support.

"We are a contingent of well-experienced, technically strong, dedicated professionals who make restoration happen. We're here to support JPS and the people of Jamaica as necessary," he said.