(KINGSTON, Jamaica; 2021 October 26): The Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) has restated that the Jamaica Public Service Company Limited (JPS) did not provide it with notice or information prior to the implementation of its ‘Transformer Protection Programme’ pilot project, which drew wide-scale complaints of frequent and prolonged power outages in the affected communities.
OUR directed that JPS’s ‘Transformer Protection Programme’ pilot project be suspended for ninety (90) days (in the first instance), from 2021 October 15, to allow the OUR to complete an investigation and publish its findings.
In a published media interview on 2021 October 23, JPS Board Member and the Government’s Representative, Mr. Danville Walker insisted that the OUR was knowledgeable about the project. In response, OUR’s Director-General, Mr. Ansord Hewitt stated: “It is instructive that in none of the correspondences with the OUR on the matter, has JPS claimed or intimated that it had previously informed the OUR of this programme. Mr. Walker needs to state whether he is making those comments in his personal capacity or whether they represent the assertion of the JPS’s board. Either way, the claim and imputation are patently false. Notwithstanding, the OUR’s investigation continues.”
In its own response to questions from the OUR about the prolonged outages, JPS stated that no formal notification was given to its customers in advance of specific events.
