Tyrone Reid, Staff Reporter
SIXTY-EIGHT PERSONS, including eight business operators, have been arrested and charged for stealing electricity from the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) since January.
Additionally, the company has dismissed one employee and is currently investigating others for facilitating the theft of electricity.
The light and power company revealed that electricity theft accounted for $2.6 billion in losses last year.
A release from the JPS stated that some of the recent arrests of corporate customers include representatives from a St. Mary resort, a fish farm in St. Catherine, and a supermarket in Morant Bay, St. Thomas. All cases are currently pending in court.
The JPS revealed that some of the methods being used to steal electricity include meter bypass, tampering with the meter by a trained technician and the breaking of the integrity seal to install a bridge or wire to divert a portion of the energy from the meter.
LOSS REDUCTION PROGRAMME
The arrests come as a result of an intensified Loss Reduction Programme implemented by the JPS.
The utility company told The Gleaner that intensified intelligence gathering from usage patterns and sophisticated test instruments, such as a Global Positioning System, to identify areas throughout the island with the highest level of theft, had made it more aware and alert in its efforts to pinpoint and stamp out the activity.
The JPS highlighted that "theft among business customers is about the same for residential customers," but the financial impact of the commercial theft is really hitting the company where it hurts.
"We are focusing on large energy users which accounts for 50 per cent of the total revenue of JPS. If we can tackle that problem, the savings to the company will be great," stressed Steve Dixon, general manager of the Loss Reduction Management Unit at the JPS.
In an attempt to minimise the loss of electricity through pilferage and metering irregularities, the JPS boosted its Loss Reduction Programme by establishing a new intelligence unit - the Loss Reduction Management Unit - and has doubled the size of its investigators in the Loss Reduction Programme.
