Rayon Dyer and Tyrone Reid, Gleaner Writers
CONTRARY TO reports by the Jamaica Public Service (JPS) that the recent spate of scheduled power outages has ended, St. Elizabeth residents are still bewailing being plunged in the dark as recently as Wednesday morning.
Tony Ray, external affairs director at the JPS, told The Gleaner on Wednesday that it was business as usual for the power company, as the glitches that caused the recent blackouts had been rectified.
Mr. Ray explained that the perpetual power outages were caused by problems that plagued the JPS, as well as the Independent Power Producers (IPP) that supply the light and power company.
The Gleaner has learnt that a turbine at the JPS' Bogue plant was damaged last year resulting in a loss of 40 megawatts of power to total electricity supply. This unit has been shipped to the manufacturers for repairs and will not be back in service until September. However, JPS maintains that the missing unit has not been the source of the recent power outages.
The other unit, which supplies in excess of 60 megawatts, was taken out in March to facilitate much-needed, major repairs. The latter unit should be reinstated next week.
ADDITIONAL PROBLEMS
As a result, the JPS was only able to supply 600 of the customary 700 megawatts, which he said should not have posed a problem because the average use in peak hours is 500 megawatts.
JPS also experienced additional problems at their Hunts Bay and Rockfort stations, which was compounded by the IPPs inability to meet demands.
However, Mr. Ray said that those glitches have been remedied. "As of last week Tuesday most of the outages ceased (and) all things remaining equal there should be no frequent power outages."
That seemingly has not been the case for residents from the 'bread basket'.
"The frequent blackouts have been seriously affecting my ice cream shop and if this
continues indefinitely, I don't know what will happen to the businesses in this area," bemoaned Anthony Ewen, a businessman operating in Black River.
Operator of Lyn's Variety store, Marjorie Lyn, urged the JPS to come forward and say what the real deal is. "I think the JPS needs to tell the residents the truth about what is going on with its operation", she said.
When The Gleaner contacted Julian Hinds, attached to the light and power company's customer service department in its Black River offices, she said that Wednesday's power outage in the parish was due to a problem with the distribution transformer at the company's hydro station at Maggotty.
Mr. Ray corroborated this and quickly pointed out that JPS does not profit from blackouts. "We are in the business of supplying light; it is not in our interest to keep people in darkness."
