JPS responds to Westmoreland protest over lack of power

The Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) says a team that went to restore power on Dalling Street in Savanna-la-mar, Westmoreland today turned back after feeling threatened by a group of protesting residents. 

Electricity was ultimately restored to the community at 3 p.m., but JPS says "had it not been for the demonstration, the restoration would have been much earlier". 

Dozens of angry residents blocked the main thoroughfare to protest over a lack of electricity in sections of the community. They say they were without power since Sunday.

But JPS is disputing some of those claims. 

The company says it received a report on Tuesday from one individual that he had no power at his premises on Dalling Street.

"This morning a team making their way on Dalling Street in response to the issue, encountered a road block and a boisterous group of demonstrators who claimed that they had no power since Sunday and who appeared to pose a threat to the JPS workers," a statement said. 

JPS says the team left the area due to security concerns.

"The company wishes to make it clear, that it had no reports even up to this time of writing, of any community-wide outage, or even several customers being out of power. As soon as it was safe to do so, the teams returned and sought to address the matter at hand.

Follow The Gleaner on Twitter and Instagram @JamaicaGleaner and on Facebook @GleanerJamaica. Send us a message on WhatsApp at 1-876-499-0169 or email us at onlinefeedback@gleanerjm.com or editors@gleanerjm.com.