JPS profit halves as Hurricane Melissa recovery costs bite

Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) posted a 50 per cent dip in its first-quarter profit as the power utility absorbed the lingering financial toll of Hurricane Melissa.

The Category 5 storm, which struck the island in October, knocked out power to some of its customers, weighing on the quarter's results.

Net profit for the three months ended March 2026 fell to US$6.4 million from US$12.8 million in the comparable period a year earlier— even as the company pressed ahead with one of the most ambitious grid reconstruction campaigns in its history. Operating revenue dipped to US$240.4 million from US$265.9 million in the prior-year quarter, a fall of nine per cent, reflecting weaker electricity sales as communities in the western parishes remained without full service deep into the quarter.

Nearly six months after the storm, roughly 17,000 customers across the island's western parishes remain without power, having reconnected 97.5 per cent to its over 600,000 customers.

The squeeze on revenue coincided with a surge in capital spending. JPS pumped US$96.5 million into property, plant and equipment during the quarter, more than three times the US$26.3 million invested in the same period of 2025, as the company raced to rebuild transmission and distribution infrastructure battered by winds of up to 185 miles per hour. The investment push drained cash holdings to US$55.4 million at quarter-end.

The Government committed to lending JPS US$150 million to facilitate grid restoration.

Total assets grew to US$1.85 billion from US$1.73 billion at March 2025, underpinned by the expansion in property, plant and equipment to US$1.06 billion from US$879.2 million, reflecting new infrastructure placed in service during the restoration. Shareholders' equity edged up to US$654.1 million from US$630.4 million.

JPS wrote off some US$22.3 million in assets catastrophically damaged by Hurricane Melissa in its 2025 annual accounts, with the charge reflecting damage to its transmission and distribution network. No interim dividend was declared for the quarter; in the comparable period of 2025, JPS paid US$16.5 million to ordinary shareholders.

JPS is owned 40 per cent each by MaruEnergy JPSCO 1 SRL, an entity ultimately controlled by Japan's Marubeni Corporation, and EWP (Barbados) 1 SRL, ultimately owned by the Korea Electric Power Corporation. The Government of Jamaica holds 19.9 per cent, with private individuals holding the remainder. The company's preference shares are listed on the Jamaica Stock Exchange.

business@gleanerjm.com