Some JPS customers in receipt of estimated bills to get 40% reprieve

By Halshane Burke   

 

The Office of Utilities Regulation says some customers of the Jamaica Public Service Company who are receiving estimated bills are to get a 40 per cent reprieve on what was estimated.

 

This comes after the regulator approved a mechanism for calculating these bills following Hurricane Beryl.

 

The OUR says the decision follows a meeting between its representatives and JPS after it was announced that estimated bills would be sent to some customers due to the light and power company's inability to conduct actual meter readings in some cases.

 

The current billing cycle started on July 8 and JPS has advised that as at July 22, some 485,000 bills were issued, of which 122,000 customers were billed based on estimated consumption.

 

The light and power company says a further 226,000 bills were yet to be issued, of which 56,000 were to be billed on estimated consumption.

 

OUR Director-General Ansord Hewitt says though JPS is authorised to issue estimated bills, this arrangement was designed for normal conditions.

 

Mr. Hewitt says under circumstances where many communities have had no power for the majority of the billing period and are already feeling the financial fallout with the restoration of their homes and livelihoods, it cannot be fair for them to be asked to pay for more than what they consumed.

 

Following inquiries with JPS about customer impact and available alternatives to soften the billing impact on consumers, the OUR agreed to a waiver of the mechanism for calculating estimated bills, specifically for customers impacted by extended outages.

 

It says the objective is to lessen the impact on people who may bear an increased financial burden if the prescribed regulatory methodology was used.

 

For customers with smart meters who were not already billed, the OUR also granted approval for JPS to use the last recorded reading.

 

The JPS is required to indicate to the OUR how it will deal with those customers who already received estimated bills in July as they should also benefit from similar treatment.

 

The light and power company will also continue to facilitate flexible payment arrangements for customers who need extensions on their due dates with requests being dealt with on a case-by-case basis.