More people sat waiting for hours in the customer-service area than there were people in the cashier lines at the Jamaica Public Service (JPS) office on East Parade Street in downtown Kingston on Wednesday morning.

Though people looked to be on edge, things were quiet in the waiting area until one woman, sporting bright-red hair, clutching her bill while struggling under the weight of plastic bags filled with produce, stormed out of the customer-service section in an explosive fury, complete with colourful expletives and frantic gestures, immediately inciting rumblings from the others.

"Last month, mi pay $10,000, this month again mi pay $10,000 and dem a tell mi seh dem cyaa do nutn bout it because the bill increase!" shouted Ivilyn Cooper, almost at the point of tears.

Shouting her plight

"Mi have pickney fi go a school, an is me alone and mi sick husband pension. So how mi fi survive?" she cried, before storming into the street, shouting her plight to anyone who would listen.

Paulette Long, a 52-year-old resident of Greater Portmore who walks the streets of downtown Kingston selling raincoats and just about anything for survival, complained that her bill of $5,000 seemed too high for someone who was never home during the days.

"A road mi live and it's hard, it's me alone," she said. "We have to buy food and we have the light bill and water bill to pay and God bless wi if wi sell enough to buy a little lunch."

"When you pay that, you can't pay your rent, you can't even buy soap to wash your clothes. The light bill higher than the mortgage," said Adair Foote, another resident of Portmore, whose bill had made a shocking leap from $3,000 to $30,000 in the space of a month, despite having plugged his electronics out each day before leaving home.

Inside, people called for government intervention, recounting that they saw similar price hikes after hurricanes Ivan and Dean.