Gov’t pressed for answers on talks to grant new JPS licence

The governing Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) administration is being urged to tell the country why it has not started negotiations with the Jamaica Public Service (JPS) for a new licence.

Speaking at a People’s National Party (PNP) conference in St Andrew North East on Sunday, Opposition Spokesman on Energy Phillip Paulwell said negotiations between the Government and JPS should have started from July 2023.

The licence requires that by July 2025, the Government must signal to JPS its intentions in relation to the licence, the opposition spokesman added.

“We are three months away, and all I could hear when I asked the minister was that a team from the World Bank is coming to Jamaica to assist the Government in negotiations, which should have started in 2023,” Paulwell said.

He warned that the effect of not telling JPS what the Government intends to do could mean that Jamaicans are stuck with the current licence and terms that are not beneficial to consumers.

Paulwell signalled that negotiations for a new licence should seek to get leverage from JPS on important issues, like providing greater incentives for net billing licensees. He said it should also enable greater generation from rooftop solar for distribution, adding greater efforts to ensure increased efficiency on both technical and non-technical losses, and greater consumer protection provisions.

He explained that if there is a power surge that damages a customer’s appliances, the JPS is not obliged to compensate individuals, as the current licence excludes liability for such occurrences.

He said a PNP administration would take steps to change that.

“We want to make sure that if there is a power voltage that hits you, that you don’t have to be responsible for the damage done to your equipment, but the JPS pays because it is their fault why you had the high voltage.”

The current JPS licence expires in July 2027.

editorial@gleanerjm.com