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Consumer Quarterly Performance Report January – March 2016

Consumer Quarterly Performance Report January – March 2016

Utilities’ performance on Guaranteed Standards

The CAU fielded twenty-six (26) contacts in relation to alleged breaches of the Guaranteed Standards by the JPS and the NWC. The NWC has submitted one part of the Guaranteed Standards report, which is the section that shows the number of breaches. The missing section details the sum that the Commission
would have paid out in automatic compensation during the review period. No report has been received from JPS to date.

    Our Appeals Process

The activities of utility companies are guided by “terms and conditions” within their license and/or Act. There are occasions, however, when consumers feel that particular action(s) of a utility company might have been in breach of the utility’s “terms and conditions” or might have been unfair to them. In such
circumstances, the OUR is an avenue for recourse in having any such wrong investigated and addressed through our appeals process.

Before submitting an appeal to the OUR, consumers are expected and encouraged to first take the complaint, or issues giving rise to the complaint, up to the level of a senior officer at the respective utility company. The hearing of grievances is a consumer’s right and utilities are obliged to review such
matters with the aim of having the issue addressed or clarified.

    Closure of Appeals

Twenty-five (25) appeals were closed by the CAU during the review period. Of those closed, sixty percent (60%) were in favour of the service providers while twenty-four percent (24%) were in favour of the customer. The remaining 16% represents appeals for which a compromise was reached or those that were withdrawn by the customer.

Twenty-two (22) of the closed appeals were carried forward from previous periods while the remaining three closed appeals were received and resolved within the OUR-established standard of sixty (65) working days

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Office Of Utilities Regulation
Privacy Overview

Data Protection — Privacy Notice for Information Request
This privacy notice tells you how the Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) collects and uses the personal data of individuals who will participate in our Satisfaction Survey for Major Service Providers.

What Types of personal data are we collecting?

  • Names
  • Job Titles
  • Work contact number
  • Work email address

 

What is the legal basis for asking for this information?
The legal basis for collecting personal data is legitimate interests.  The OUR is requesting information based on its legitimate interest in conducting this survey, which necessitates obtaining personal data. The legitimate interest, in this case, relates to fulfilling the project's purpose.

Why are we asking for this information?
The OUR believes it is important to assess the views of various participants in the electricity, telecommunications, and water and sewerage sectors it regulates, particularly the major service providers: Jamaica Public Service Company Limited, the National Water Commission, FLOW, and Digicel Jamaica Limited. Through this research, the OUR aims to evaluate these major service providers' knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions specifically regarding:

  • the roles and functions of the OUR.
  • the service providers' knowledge and perception of the OUR and
  • the extent to which the service providers believe the OUR is performing satisfactorily and executing its mandate efficiently.

The OUR intends to utilize the research findings to review its processes and procedures related to these major service providers.

 

What will we do with personal data?

The data will be used to contact participants to provide opportunities to collect qualitative and quantitative data for analysis. The information will be kept on a secured server, where it will be stored in accordance with the Data Protection Act, 2020 for four (4) years.

 

How will we protect personal data and how long will it be stored?

We have implemented appropriate technical and organizational measures to ensure that we keep personal data safe and comply with data protection laws. The information will be stored on a physically secured server, accessible only to authorized personnel. The OUR has implemented several controls to protect the data, including password protection, multi-factor authentication, firewalls, anti-virus software, VPNs, and Data Encryption.

The personal data will be stored for four (4) years, after which it will be disposed of in accordance with the OUR Business Classification Scheme and Records Retention and Disposition Authority.

 

Who will utilize the personal data?

The data will be collected by a third-party consultant who will be conducting the survey.

 

What are the rights of data subjects?

Participants can change their minds or withdraw their consent to use their personal data at any time.

 

Participants have the right to ask us to delete their personal data. To do this, they can send an email to dpo@our.org.im. They also have the right to ask us to update and rectify the personal data that we hold about them.