PNP vows to cut electricity cost by more US$0.30 per kilowatt-hour

WESTERN BUREAU:

Phillip Paulwell, the opposition spokesman on energy and climate change, says that, should the People’s National Party (PNP) form the next government, it has already developed a plan to reduce the cost of electricity by more than US$0.30 per kilowatt-hour.

In addition, Paulwell said if the PNP is successful in the general election, which is constitutionally due within another eight months, the administration will also eliminate electricity theft within their first term.

“I am determined to bring the cost of electricity down from the current US$0.40 odd cent to US$0.15 per kilowatt hour. And I am so convinced and enthused and that’s the reason why I can come here and put my ideas on the line,” said Paulwell, who was speaking during last Thursday’s town hall in Cornwall Court, which attracted residents from other communities in the St James Central constituency.

According to Paulwell, the measures under consideration are crucial for achieving economic growth and ensuring a more efficient and affordable energy sector for all Jamaicans.

Paulwell, who served as the minister of energy, mining , science and technology under the last PNP administration, said he has been crunching the numbers on electric energy cost, looking at how best to ease the pressure of the high cost of electricity on all sectors of the country.

“While you [the current Jamaica Labour Party-administration] might have been wasting time in government; in opposition, I spent a lot of time studying and looking at what is happening in the world and understanding why it is possible,” said Paulwell, referencing the PNP’s energy policy designed to reduce the cost of energy to both residential and commercial customers.

On the issue of electricity theft, Paulwell said approximately 200,000 of the more than 600,000 on the Jamaica Public Service (JPS) grid are stealing electricity, which is creating an extra layer of hardship on the paying customers, which is something he says the PNP intends to fix.

In 2001, the Government of Jamaica sold 80 per cent of the JPS to Mirant Corporation, an international energy company. This sale marked the partial privatisation of JPS. The government kept 20 per cent of the shares while the remaining one per cent of shares went to minority shareholders.

Paulwell said when the PNP ran the JPS before it was sold in 2001, the amount of theft, where people are illegally extracting electricity from the JPS grid was far less than it is today.

“At the time of the sale, people thought that you are going to bring in private sector, to make the thing (cost of electricity) more efficient, but the level of theft is greater now because people have gotten poorer,” said Paulwell. “I am not justifying theft, but when you have a pickney who has to go and do homework for Primary Exit Profile (PEP) then you understand why electricity is a necessity and it must be a right. I believe that the government has a responsibility to deal with the theft because when you go to pay your bill, you are paying for that theft.”

Paulwell also argued that the level of theft represents approximately 17-20 per cent of a customer’s JPS bill on a monthly basis, which he sees as a “low-hanging fruit” to solve.

“Get rid of that and your bills will be down by almost 20 per cent,” said Paulwell, who noted that solar technology could be creatively used to end electricity theft. “I tabled in Parliament three years now a plan to reduce or to eliminate theft of electricity, but the government has ignored it completely.

“The prime minister spoke about pivoting to grow, and we welcome the talk about growth, but the most important pivot for me is to pivot to cheaper electricity and that has not happened and that’s one of the main reasons why we have not seen growth in our economy.”

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