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JPS and NWC to Waive Service Charge for Customers Still Without Service

(KINGSTON, Jamaica; 2025 December 11): The Jamaica Public Service Company Limited (JPS) and the National Water Commission (NWC) will waive the customer/service charge on the bills of customers who have been without service since Hurricane Melissa made landfall on 2025 October 28.

The decisions emerged from the Office of Utilities Regulation’s (OUR) ongoing dialogue and correspondence sent to both utilities as early as the week following the Hurricane on regarding the treatment of bills, especially for customers in the hardest hit areas. The OUR’s letters queried whether customers without service for an entire or multiple billing cycles will be billed and required to continue paying the monthly customer/service charge.

In its response on 2025 November 18, the NWC indicated that…

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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.