PNP vows to tackle energy costs from day one

Opposition Spokesperson on Energy and Climate Change, Phillip Paulwell, says a future People's National Party (PNP) administration would move swiftly to renegotiate the Jamaica Public Service (JPS) licence.

While the Andrew Holness-led government has already indicated that the current JPS licences for electricity generation and transmission will not be renewed when they expire in 2027, Paulwell insists that significant changes are needed now.

"We are prepared, not to wait until 2027, but from day one to engage in those negotiations to effect those meaningful changes," he said.

The opposition spokesperson on energy said that among other things, the PNP would remove the restriction on people who operate in the Special Economic Zones (SEZs) to do their own generation and distribution of electricity. He also said that the PNP would push for greater incentives for persons to sell solar generated energy to the national grid.

Paulwell, on Monday, outlined to members of the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica a slate of energy policies and programmes a future PNP administration would pursue to slash electricity costs and drive economic growth.

Paulwell noted that during his last tenure as energy minister, Jamaica saw a 28.13 per cent drop in the average electricity cost per kilowatt-hour - falling from US$0.32/kWh in 2011 to US$0.236/kWh in 2016. Since then, however, prices have surged to over US$0.40/kWh.

"We have to get the price of electricity down from US$0.40/kWh to below US$0.20/kWh, and that is from day one," he said.