Yahneake Sterling, Staff Reporter
LESS THAN two years after Hurricane Ivan ravaged the island and light bills sky rocketed, the Jamaica Public Service Company Limited (JPS) is reporting that all customers who saw a hike in their monthly bills have been reimbursed.
Officials from the power company told The Gleaner yesterday that customers who had seen a sharp increase in their light bills in November 2004, had their accounts credited between February and March of this year.
David Geddes, director of consumer and public affairs at the Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR), confirmed that just under 16,000 of the 21,000 customers were reimbursed during the period.
ALL DID NOT MEET CRITERIA
Mr. Geddes said this was due to the fact that not all 21,000 customers had met the criteria that the regulatory body had set. He said that, initially, the OUR allowed the JPS to use the plus or minus 80 per cent band as the percentage increase or decrease in consumption to charge customers.
Noting that this was too high, Mr. Geddes said the OUR adjusted the percentage to plus or minus 35 per cent.
"We looked at the consumption six months before the hurricane and six months after and compared the consumption and if the account was above the plus or minus 35 per cent, the account was adjusted, but if it was under they were not," he said.
He explained that the JPS, based on this method, received a mandate to reimburse customers to the tune of $11 million. He said customers' accounts were not credited 100 per cent, but were repaid eight per cent of the inaccurate sum.
