THE JAMAICA Public Service Company (JPSCo) has assured Minister of Commerce,Science & Technology, Phillip Paulwell, that there has been no system-wide over-charging of customers for electricity services.
The company also gave the Minister the assurance that its billing schedule was returning to normal and customers should, as of this month, begin to receive their bills on a regular monthly cycle again.
"Affected customers should begin to return to their regular bill patterns again," President and CEO of JPSCo, Charles Matthews, told Minister Paulwell, senior officers of his Ministry and executives of the Consumer Affairs Commission.
The JPSCo CEO met with government officials to brief them on developments with its new billing system that was commissioned in October last year. Glitches in the launch of the new system resulted in some customers not receiving a bill over the September to November period. Some of these customers received back-to-back bills in December and January, as the company caught up with its normal bill production schedule.
The unusual billing cycle has coincided with higher electricity bills since January, due to spiralling world fuel prices and the devaluation of the Jamaican dollar, leading some customers to mistakenly conclude that the company has raised rates or was overcharging.
Minister Paulwell said that while he understood the nature of issues, JPSCo had an obligation to communicate the factors affecting electricity bills more clearly.
The JPSCo CEO said the company regrets the inconvenience to affected customers, and remained committed to assisting in alleviating short-term payment difficulty.
"We are standing by our customers through this," Matthews said. "If any of our customers in good standing is having difficulty, we say come talk to us and we will help to work
it out."
