JPS dominates list as consumer complaints to OUR soar post-Beryl

The Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) reported a 103 per cent surge in consumer complaints to its Consumer Affairs Unit during the July to September 2024 quarter, compared to the previous three months.

The largest complaint categories included rebates (up 380 per cent), service interruptions (up 320 per cent), billing issues (up 116 per cent), and poor service quality (up 21 per cent).

Electricity provider, Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) accounted for 57 per cent of the complaints, followed by the National Water Commission (16 per cent) and Flow's Columbus Communications and Cable & Wireless Jamaica divisions, which together represented 22 per cent.

Billing matters, at 50 per cent, remained the main reason utility consumers contacted the CAU, representing a three-percentage point increase compared to the preceding quarter.

JPS and NWC accounted for the most billing-related matters, with 549 (35 per cent) and 169 (11 per cent), respectively. Some of the billing matters, specifically high consumption and estimated billing, related to Hurricane Beryl. 

At 29 per cent of total contacts, service interruption remained the second highest reason for customer contact with the CAU for the review period, followed by poor service quality, irregular supply, disconnection, rebate and guaranteed standards. Service interruption contacts increased by 15 percentage points to 29 per cent when compared to the preceding quarter.

The CAU received 1,581 contacts for the quarter, compared to 778 in the April to June 2024 period. The information is contained in OUR’s Quarterly Performance Report (QPR) for July to September 2024, representing the quarter immediately following Hurricane Beryl.

OUR’s intervention secures sums for affected customers

Through the OUR’s intervention, $1.37 million was secured for utility consumers. Of this amount, NWC and JPS accounted for $1.2 million (84 per cent) and $159,591.81 (12 per cent) respectively. The remaining $56,681.71 (4 per cent) was shared between Columbus Communications Limited (Flow) and C&WJ. While $270,682.89 (20 per cent) of the total credits secured were recorded during the reporting period, they were applied to customers’ accounts by the service providers in previous periods.

For JPS, the data indicated that 20,648 Guaranteed Standards breaches were committed during the quarter, representing a 13 per cent increase over the preceding period. These breaches attracted compensatory payments of approximately $40.64 million.

 However, no compensatory payments were made as JPS is awaiting a response from the Ministry of Science, Energy, Telecommunications and Transport (MSETT) for Force Majeure relief (suspension) from the Guaranteed Standards for the period 2024 July 2 – August 12. JPS advised that the Force Majeure request to MSETT was due to the effects of Hurricane Beryl on the Island, which affected its ability to meet the requirements of the Guaranteed Standards.                                                    

NWC’s Guaranteed Standards compliance report indicates that 3,987 breaches were committed during the review period, representing a 40 per cent increase over the preceding period. These breaches had a potential payout of approximately $18.53 million. However, actual payments amounted to approximately $5.26 million, or 28 per cent of total potential payments, and were made through automatic credits to the affected accounts. The remaining 72 per cent of potential payments not made include those breaches for which the affected customers did not submit the required claim forms for validation.