The Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR), watchdog over industries providing essentials such as water and electricity, said Tuesday that consumer advocacy was imperative to ensuring quality service.

Garfield Bryan, manager of consumer and public affairs at the OUR, said companies were getting away scot-free because many customers had not come forward with claims, often because of ignorance or misconceptions that compensation might be insignificant.

"In 2007, the Jamaica Public Service (JPS) committed about 64,000 breaches of the various individual standards and this should have led to a compensation of approximately $173 million. What was actually paid out in claims was about $400,000," said Bryan, while addressing a meeting of the Manchester Parish Council in the capital, Mandeville, recently.

The situation was similar with the National Water Commission (NWC), said Bryan.

He said that, in addition to sensitising customers about the standards through its various education programmes, the OUR has instituted an automatic payment requirement for the NWC. This provides for an automatic credit to the customer's account once certain breaches occur, removing reliance on the customer to make a claim.

Though no such policy exists for JPS, a similar scheme was being embarked upon, the OUR consumer chief said.

Meter reading

Meanwhile, Bryan said the OUR has pressed JPS to read electricity meters monthly. Currently, the power company does so at least once every three months. The guaranteed service standard for 2004-2009 stipulates that JPS should issue not more than two consecutive estimated bills where the company has access to the meter.

"That is part of the reason why they need to have access to the meters on a reasonable basis," Bryan said, noting that an estimated bill should be based on the average of the last three actual readings.