Sole electricity provider Jamaica Public Service (JPS) has come under a tongue lashing by the Minister of Energy Daryl Vaz for its poor treatment of citizens and inefficient service.

Vaz does not feel the Office of Utilities Regulation’s (OUR) recent approval to allow the power company to raise its rates is warranted.

Power outages, failure to bring new customers onto the grid, inability to provide adequate street lighting for communities, poor management are just some of the issue that have incurred the ire of Vaz.

What has also incensed the minister with the moniker ‘Man of Action’ is that he has summoned the JPS team on many occasions to explain their failures and inadequacy in serving the country but has been blithely ignored.

JPS consistently puts in poor performance ratings with customer satisfaction polls.

During the many power outages, Jamaican’s electrical goods (TVs, fridges, music systems, freezers) get damaged and there is no recompense for this. JPS falters, and the Jamaican consumer pays the price.

But JPS has made it very clear that its operations are impacted by wonton vandalism and theft of its equipment and that its pleas to the Government to do something about the matter are not heeded.

Last year, over 30,000 Jamaicans signed an online petition aimed at pushing back at a rate increase approved by the OUR for JPS.

Julia Robbins, the organiser of the Change.org petition, believes the cost of electricity is too high and needs to be addressed.

One petitioner wrote: “Electricity charges are too high. So many added charges and costs on top of basic electricity cost. Electricity is a basic human necessity.

“I signed this petition because I basically use the same amount of utility each month. I try to conserve and help out other family members to do the same and yet still my electricity bill keeps going up each month and I don’t operate a business at my place of residence. I can’t afford another raise in my electricity bill.”

JPS, an amalgam of the Marubeni Corporation (40 per cent), Korea East-West Power Company (40 per cent) and the Government of Jamaica (19.9 per cent) has to contend with rising oil prices while 20 per cent of the electricity generated by the company is stolen.

Michel Gantois, CEO of JPS, said: “ Electricity theft is the most pervasive and growing problem in the island, committed mostly with impunity and receiving little attention.

“For the past few years, the theft of electricity has accounted for 18 to 20 per cent of all electricity generated, or one-fifth of all the electricity we generate. Think about all the expensive fuel we have burnt to produce electricity that was never paid for. We look at the conflict half a world away as one source of our energy problems, but we have a creeping war in our own backyard.”

A JPS executive, speaking with Our Today on the condition of anonymity at downtown Kingston’s ROK Hotel, said: “Minister Vaz is a politician who wants compensation for the people. That sounds good in the media but why doesn’t he demonstrate action and do something about the theft we have to constantly endure?

“There’s one community in Spanish Town close to where Prime Minister [Andrew Holness] comes from that has a 96 per cent theft rate. Think about that. The Government must get on top of crime to allow us to provide a better service to the country. That’s clear for all to see. And I’m sure Minister Vaz would agree with that.”