The Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) says the number of unrestored customers now stands at 13,712 down from roughly 16,000 a couple of days ago. 

The majority of affected customers, according to the light and power company, are in St Elizabeth, which was hard-hit by Hurricane Beryl nearly six weeks ago. 

JPS, in an update on Saturday (August 10), disclosed that it is pushing ahead to meet the August 12 restoration deadline for all parishes, except St. Elizabeth.  Of the almost 38,000 customers in that parish, more than 26,000 already have electricity restored to them, with a balance of over 11,500 due to receive power by August 31.

“As indicated, St. Elizabeth will require sections of the network to do a rebuild – not just a restoration,” JPS CEO Hugh Grant emphasised. 

Meanwhile, most parishes are nearly completed, except for Manchester, which has little over 1,000 customers awaiting supply.

Also of note, is that there are some instances where customers are out due to access issues. For example, 30 customers are unrestored due to a landslide in the Firehole community in Hanover. Another example is in Westphalia in rural St Andrew, where under 20 customers are out as JPS utility vehicles cannot access the location. JPS continues to work diligently to resolve these issues.

The total customer base islandwide is 692,000 customers, 98 per cent of which are being served.

JPS thanked the general public for its support, patience and understanding at this time, as it works to complete the provision of power to all customers.