The Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) says more than $45 million was paid out to customers between April and June of this year due to breaches of the Guaranteed Standards by the island’s utility providers.

The OUR said the sum included direct interventions made on behalf of customers.

Some 20,894 breaches of the Guaranteed Standards were committed by the Jamaica Public Service Company Limited (JPS), which is a 29 per cent decline compared to the preceding period, according to the OUR.

A total of 29,312 breaches were committed by JPS within the first quarter of the year (January to March), based on the OUR’s quarterly performance report.

The utilities regulator said that JPS breaches accounted for $43.55 million, all of which were applied automatically to the affected customers’ accounts.

These Guaranteed Standards payments were in relation to breaches of estimated bills (which restricts JPS to only sending two consecutive bills based on estimated readings without penalty), reconnection (which requires that JPS restores supply within 24 hours of payment of overdue amounts), and connection to supply (which prescribes the time within which JPS is to make a simple connection).

A total of 1,786 breaches of the Guaranteed Standards were recorded for the National Water Commission (NWC) during the review period, which is an 11 per cent decline compared to the preceding period.

Some 2,103 breaches were recorded for the NWC during the first quarter of the year.

The OUR said the NWC breaches amounted to a potential payout sum of $8 million, however, actual payments amounted to $1.46 million, or 18 per cent of total payments and were made by automatic credits to affected accounts.

It further noted that the remaining 82 per cent of potential payments not made represented those breaches for which a claim form was not submitted for validation.

The breaches of guaranteed standards were in relation to complaint investigations (which require that the NWC completes investigations and responds or provide an update within 30 working days of receipt of a complaint), meter repair or replacement (which stipulates that defective meters are to be verified, repaired or replaced within 20 working days), and access or new service connection (which requires the NWC to connect a new supply within 10 working days).

The OUR defines Guaranteed Standards as the minimum service level agreed to between the OUR and the utility companies to ensure value to customers. A breach of this agreement will result in the utility providers becoming liable for compensatory payments to customers.

A total of $468,781.66 was also secured by the OUR as a result of intervention on behalf of utility consumers. Of the sum, NWC accounted for $440,032.09, 94 per cent, while JPS accounted for $21,028.99, 4 per cent.

The remaining two per cent was shared between Cable and Wireless Jamaica (Flow) and Columbus Communications.