Robert Hart and Petulia Clarke, Staff Reporters
AS POWER outages continue to envelop the island, the Jamaica Public Service Company Limited (JPSCo) said yesterday that it was trying to reduce its load shedding activities which have been blacking out communities since Monday.
"It is difficult to anticipate in advance what will happen," JPSCo communications manager, Winsome Callum, told The Gleaner yesterday.
A check on JPSCo's customer care line listed more than 40 areas in Kingston and St. Andrew that were without power between 11:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m., with dozens more added between 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Combined, the parishes of St. Catherine, St. Thomas and Portland had almost 60 areas out of power. JPSCo also reported outages in Clarendon, Hanover, St. James, Manches-ter, St. Ann. St. Elizabeth and Westmoreland.
Ms. Callum said the company was forced to carry out yesterday's load shedding as a result of a shortfall in its available generating capacity. This resulted from the unavailability of generating units at the Old Harbour Power Station, St Catherine, the largest of its main power plants.
"JPSCo has therefore, been unable to supply enough power to meet the needs of all its customers for the past few hours," she admitted.
Of the four generating units at the Old Harbour Station, which manage 120 megawatts of electricity, three developed mechanical problems yesterday morning. One could not be reactivated, leaving the station short of generators.
"Two units are likely to be out until the weekend," Ms. Callum said, explaining that the light and power company did not believe it could get the generators back in order by last night.
The Old Harbour plant has been plagued with problems this week. After a rash of power outages on Wednesday, the JPSCo said that equipment at the power plant had developed problems similar to those experienced just two days later.
"Because the company delivers electricity via an integrated grid, a problem at one power plant can affect customers anywhere on the island," a company spokes-person said.
While larger businesses had made accommodations through standby systems, small businesses suffered immensely, with several reporting losses that have been building up since early this week.
A representative at the Profiles Beauty and Barber Salon on Constant Spring Road, said she hadn't been able to do business since Monday. The situation worsened yesterday, one of the busiest days of the week.
Cable companies fared no better, with Allied Cable, Washington Boulevard, reporting problems providing customers with regular programming because of the JPSCo outages.
At the Greater Portmore Fabricare Centre and Express Laundromat, customers reportedly had to wait long periods for the light to come back or had to leave without being serviced. There is no backup system in place.
