Almost 20 communities in northwest and northeast Manchester have been experiencing power cuts at various points since Thursday last week.

The first power cut occurred at 1 p.m. on Thursday, lasting more than 24 hours. Since then, the communities have been hit by extended periods of disruption in service.

Last Saturday, there was another blackout, which started at approximately 7 p.m., blanketing 18 communities with darkness.

The Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS), the island's main electricity provider, has attributed the outage to damage to a transformer in the Othersfield area.

The company said a preliminary assessment pointed to illegal connections to its grid as playing a major role in the outage. JPS personnel told The Gleaner that burnt-out wires used to make illegal connections were found near the site of the damaged transformer.

APOLOGIES MADE TO RESIDENTS

JPS personnel visited the affected areas and addressed the residents on Monday, acknowledging and apologising for the disruption. Manager for Manchester, Alvin Thyme, emphasised that the power provider's team of technicians was working round the clock to make sure service is restored to all areas as quickly as possible.

The power company has also said residents might be reimbursed for spoilage resulting from the power outage. Customers are being asked to quantify their claims, have them certified by a justice of the peace and submit them to its offices.

Shopkeepers in districts such as Bally Nure are complaining that sales have suffered, as most customers could not purchase items such as meat and drinks on their weekly grocery list.

Some parents are infuriated because their children have had to be absent from school because uniforms could not be ironed. Others expressed dissatisfaction that JPS took such a long time to make an official statement about the blackout and prospects of restoration of service.