The Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR), through its Consumer Affairs Unit, has secured $4.3 million for utility consumers.

The amounts secured were based mainly on complaints related to billing matters, service interruptions, refunds, and rebates.

The Jamaica Public Service Company Limited (JPS) accounted for $2.3 million (52%) while the National Water Commission (NWC) accounted for $1.2 million (27%).

Columbus Communications Jamaica Limited (Flow), Cable & Wireless Jamaica Limited (Flow) and Digicel (Jamaica) Limited accounted for $527,000 (12%), $331,000 (8%), and $21,000 (1%), respectively.

Of the total credits secured, $2.6 million (61%) were applied to customers’ accounts by the service providers in previous periods but were recorded in OUR’s database during the reporting period.

The remaining amount was secured during the reporting period.

Meanwhile, JPS and NWC are reporting a slight reduction in Guaranteed Standards (GS) breaches for the 2025 April-June quarter, over the previous quarter.

JPS’s compliance report on its GS performance for the review period showed that 22,720 breaches occurred, a 9% reduction from the previous quarter. These breaches resulted in compensatory payments of approximately $50.3 million, all automatically credited to the affected customers’ accounts.

Guaranteed Standards related to Estimated Bills (which restricts JPS from sending more than two consecutive estimates without penalty), Reconnection (which requires that JPS restore supply within 24 hours of receiving payment for overdue amounts) and Connection to Supply (which prescribes the time within which JPS must make a simple connection) remained the standards that accounted for the highest incidents of breaches. These standards accounted for approximately 99% of breaches and 100% of compensatory payments.

The NWC’s Guaranteed Standards compliance report for the review period shows that 3,690 breaches occurred, marking a 3% decrease compared to the previous period. These breaches could have resulted in a payout of around $19.6 million, but the actual payments amounted to about $8.8 million, which is 45% of the total potential payments, and were paid via automatic credits to the affected accounts. The remaining 65% of potential payments not made involve breaches where affected customers did not submit the necessary claim forms for validation.

The standards with the highest incidents of breaches for the NWC were Complaint Investigations (which require the NWC to complete investigations and respond or provide an update within 30 working days of receipt of a complaint), Access/New Service Connection (which requires NWC to connect a new supply within 10 working days) and Meter Repair/Replacement (which stipulates that defective meters are to be verified repaired/replaced within 20 working days).

The OUR’s Quarterly Performance Report for the 2025 April-June period can be accessed on its website: www.our.org.jm.