THE JAMAICA Public Service Company (JPSCo) yesterday denied reports that massive increases in customer electricity bills were the result of billing errors.
The company said that its checks have revealed no errors in billing nor evidence that customers were being overcharged.
The light and power company said that the large rates reported by some customers were the result of householders receiving bills for more than one month. The problem stems from the failure of the JPSCo's computer system to produce bills in the initial weeks following the implementation of a new customer information system last year.
This was the conclusion of the JPSCo's report to the Office of Utility Regulations (OUR), which has asked for a report from the JPSCo, following high levels of customer enquiries over high service bills and shortened charge cycles in the last few weeks.
A more detailed report is to be sent to the OUR next week, the JPSCo said.
The company said that most of the 20 electricity bills the OUR sent to it were correct, with only five of the complaints being justified because of metre reading errors while another two needed more investigation before a conclusion.
The JPSCo's chief marketing officer, Nigel Grant, said that the 20 bills from the OUR were not representative of the 500,000 produced monthly and that the electricity provider received less than one per cent of the bills produced.
The JPSCo said the problems with the information system has since been addressed, apologised for the inconvenience and reminded persons that that they will be facing bill increases as a result of rising fuel costs for their generating unit and the devaluation of the Jamaican dollar.
