I hope that the public will not be deceived into believing that the hesitation of the Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) is to be blamed for the Jamaica Public Service (JPS) delay in investing billions of dollars, as claimed by the company's CEO Damian Obiglio.

It is very clear that in the light of new technology and in the long-term interest of the consumer, the OUR has to be very careful and pragmatic when granting licences for additional energy production as well as transmission of electricity, since they must consider carefully the options available.

Their decision must not only be made in the interest of the consumers, but also in the long-term interest of the country as it affects the balance of payment of our future generations.

The expansion plans for JPS to provide cheap sources of energy can only be approved if it is via projects such as hydro or wind energy since these are cheap in terms of output, but they should be encouraged only to embark on projects which will reduce the cost of delivery and transmission rather than control energy generation.

Adequate incentives

Energy generation should be left to other more efficient providers of cheap energy, and the OUR must give them adequate incentives to enter the market, such as netmetering and/or netbilling, which is obviously not in the interest of the JPS.

Not only must the cost effectiveness of the projects be taken into consideration, but environmental effects should also be of paramount importance when making such a decision.

In terms of cost effectiveness and environment, the introduction of the new pebble bed modular nuclear reactors stand supreme, and should be reconsidered by the prime minister, who made a declaration without proper investigation, so must be man enough to admit that it was an error.

The recycling of waste of which we have hundreds of thousands of tons of garbage annually can be used not only for cheap generation of electricity, but to assist in increased employment and savings, and also to produce saleable by-products to practically eliminate running costs of the generators by producing its own energy.

I am, etc.,

DONALD CHUNG

syngtclub@yahoo.com

Mississauga, Canada