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Thousands of residents in St. Elizabeth Parish will continue to be without electricity for weeks after the Jamaica Public Service (JPS) announced a delay in restoring electricity to parts of the parish.
The power company announced that the deadline for repairs in parts of Granary Parish is August 31, but said all other parishes are still on track to complete full repairs by August 12.
The company said its distribution infrastructure in St. Elizabeth was nearly destroyed when Category 4 Hurricane Beryl struck the southern part of the island on July 3.
“This is a rebuilding process, not a restoration,” said Hugh Grant, the new president and CEO of JPS, who visited the parish earlier this week.
He said based on the extent of the damage, the electrical infrastructure that supplies power to parts of St. Elizabeth will need to be completely rebuilt.
The head of JPS said that in some areas, the network will need to be redesigned and lines will need to be relocated. He said that due to the rugged terrain where JPS is working, the reconstruction process will be challenging and cumbersome.
“We are acutely aware of the frustration experienced by those customers who remain without power, and we know this is not what they want to hear from us right now,” Grant admitted.
However, he said the JPG will do its utmost to speed up the restoration process, noting that it has acquired additional equipment and established new partnerships with local and overseas contractors and suppliers.
“We will be redeploying resources from other parishes to focus on St. Elizabeth in the coming weeks. Today, a team of line workers will arrive from Manitoba Hydro Canada to join our CARILEC colleagues who are already supporting our local team,” Grant said.
Priority attention
He said priority would be given to important water pumps in St Elizabeth as well as educational institutions during the reconstruction process.
Grant said the Unified Police Service will work closely with local deputies and conduct outreach in the community to help ease residents’ discomfort and support their full recovery.
JPS said it will provide more details about specific communities in the St. Elizabeth area affected by delays in restoring power.
The company said it has now restored power to about 98% of its customers islandwide.
Yesterday, Energy Minister Daryl Vaz noted that a week ago, the United Electric System reported that 20,597 customers were still without power.
A week later, he said that number had shrunk to about 16,000.
“To me, the situation is not good enough. In fact, August 10 and 12 are the two deadlines for the remaining restoration work, and I suspect you’re going to hear that some areas will be delayed,” Vaz said.
“Percentages mean nothing to me. The 16,000 customers are what matter to me, and really, I just hope that OUR (Office of Utility Regulation) will continue to put pressure on JPS, just like I’ve been putting pressure on them, to provide dates, communities and timelines,” he added.
If JPS fails to achieve the 100 percent remediation goal set on August 12, it will face a $2 million fine.
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