Marks PAYMASTER, YESTERDAY, signed a five-year contract with the Rural Electrification Programme (REP).
This brings to 27, the number of contracts the company has signed since its first with Jamaica Public Service Company in October 1997, the year in which it was established.
Under the contract between Paymaster and REP, which was signed at the offices of the REP on Washington Boulevard, Paymaster will, for an undisclosed percentage commission, collect on behalf of the REP all payments to be made by rural households for installation of electricity. The REP is a non-profit, government-assisted entity aimed at bringing electricity to all rural households in Jamaica.
Paymaster is said to be close to signing another lucrative contract with a major local life insurance company in Jamaica whose name it will not reveal at this time.
Paymaster's business development manager, William Reeson told Wednesday Business, "We set out to offer a convenient service to Jamaicans, who are not able to pay their bills on time because of their location and we are doing just that from our current 85 branches located at post offices, credit unions and PC banks throughout the country".
Mr. William said, "Our marketing officers are beginning to brief the rural communities about the new payment arrangements via personal visits, written information and advertising -- we will be giving them every detail of the payment arrangements".
Competition
Mr. William, who acknowledged the competition which Paymaster is facing, said he is not perturbed: "The competition is there but we have had a head start and we are distinguishing our product by the efficient service we provide our customers -- we are not afraid".
Only last month, Paymaster was embroiled in a dispute with the supermarket chain Super Plus. The dispute centred around concerns by Paymaster that Super Plus had not recognised an agreement between them, allowing Paymaster to operate a bill payment service at Super Plus' chain of supermarkets. Paymaster further contends that Super Plus chief executive, Wayne Chen was ready to sign a deal with Paymaster's rival, Bills Express, a bill payment subsidiary of Grace, Kennedy & Company with the view to operating bill payments and remittance payments throughout Super Plus' stores.
Paymaster's chief executive officer, Audrey Marks said at the time that there may well be legal action taken to redress this situation.
The contract with the REP is believed to be a lucrative one and is a result of 2,500 houses being wired last year at a cost to the REP of $45 million. According to acting general manager of the REP, Keith Garvey: "Paymaster has a proven track record in receiving and remitting utility payments which assures that REP payments will be no problem".
Easy reach
In echoing his chairman's sentiments, Mr. Garvey added, "Paymaster locations are in every parish which puts it within easy reach. It may be that customers already use Paymaster for other services like the payment of telephone bills. This means that for those customers, a single visit to Paymaster can serve several ends".
The REP charges $13,000 per household for electricity installation. Of that amount, 10 per cent is to be deposited with the signing of the agreement and the balance is to be paid interest free within four years. In the last five years, the REP has installed electricity in 25,000 households from 750 miles of lines.
Within 15 months, 5,000 homes will be wired with loan assistance from the Caribbean Development Bank, which will enable the REP to cover 90 miles of wiring. There is also a revolving fund, which will wire 1,500 homes from now to August, and another similar fund will facilitate 1,200 homes starting in September 2001. A 25-mile project, which is being led by the Government of Jamaica, will facilitate another 500 homes.
The Government of Jamaica provides an annual subsidy of $50 million to cover the overheads of the REP, which has wired some 50,000 homes and covered 3,000 miles of distribution lines since its establishment in 1975. This number of households represents 11 per cent of JPSCo's customer base.
