GEDDES

THERE IS approximately $50 million in compensation available to customers of the country's power and water utility companies owing to breaches of the guaranteed standards laid out by the Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR).

David Geddes, director of consumer and public affairs at the OUR, said customers are allowed to collect on breaches of the guaranteed standards of the Jamaica Public Service (JPS) and the National Water Commission (NWC) and, currently, the amount due is roughly $50 million.

Mr. Geddes, however, said this money only becomes available to customers if they submit a claim to the utility company.

The OUR has said in the past that the number of claims has been extremely low, despite public education efforts by the office and periodic promotions by the utility companies.

"There is a specific time in which you (the customer) need to claim and if you (the customer) don't claim then the company is not obliged to pay out the money," Mr. Geddes said.

Customers of the JPS are asked to submit claims within 45 days of the breach and 60 days for the NWC.

The JPS is obliged to pay domestic account holders $1,000 and commercial account holders $8,400 for each breach of guaranteed standards.

A breach of any of the guaran-teed standards by the NWC will attract compensation amounting to four times the applicable service charge. However, the payments are not automatic. Consumers must make a claim for each breach.

The guaranteed standards are a set of provisions negotiated with the utility companies by the OUR on behalf of their customers, to ensure a minimum level of service from utility providers.

The regulatory office is encouraging consumers to get copies of the Guaranteed Service Standards from the utility companies to ensure they are aware when a company is guilty of a breach.