DAILY POWER outages being experienced by Jamaica Public Service Company
(JPSCo) customers since February will continue for another two weeks, the
company said yesterday.
This is so despite assurances from both the company`s management and Mining
and Energy Minister Robert Pickersgill, that load-shedding would have ended
last month.
The continued blackouts are a result of "ongoing problems" with its
65-megawatt No. 3 unit at its Old Harbour plant, the company said.
The unit was scheduled to return to service at the end of April following
repairs caused by a fire in March. It was returned to service Monday night
but soon developed problems with its transformer and is now expected to be
out of service for another two weeks.
Load-shedding has become a feature of daily life since February when the
company began experiencing problems on some of its major generating units. It
had previously promised a return to normality by mid-April, before the
Minister indicated to Parliament that there would have been some relief by
the end of April.
While the company struggles to come to terms with the severe shortfall in its
generating capacity, the nightly power cuts are beginning to take a toll on
students preparing for final examinations due later this month.
Parents and students from a number of institutions have complained that with
the power cuts being more frequent than advertised homework and research are
being severely hampered.
With the growing level of uncertainty, educators are now worried that their
charges may not be fully ready for upcoming examinations. Most affected are
students preparing for external examinations such as CXC and GCE.
Stuart Reeves, principal of Jamaica College, said while the issue had not
been discussed, it was having a negative impact on both students and
teachers.
He explained that general research and homework activities were being
hampered, and that it brought additional pressure to bear on students
preparing for external examinations since they were working to meet specific
deadlines. "If they lose a couple of hours it`s very hard for them. It`s very
challenging for them to make up that time," he stressed. Mr. Reeves also
noted that the advertised power outages and the actual load-shedding were not
in sync and that general administration was being affected since sensitive
(computer) equipment "don`t take very kindly to being suddenly shut down".
Hyacinth Baker, principal of Knox High School, said the students, the
majority of whom were not accustomed to using lamps, were having a hard time
getting ready for final exams. She said it was important no time was lost now
as many students put off revision for the last minute. She told The Gleaner
the Information Technology lab had to be shut down for the entire day on
Monday because of a power outage.
"Our IT exams have been affected by power cuts for the past two years and I
am appealing to JPSCo not to do the same thing this year," she said. IT exams
will be held on May 24, June 18 and 19.
