JPSCo's web site and power outages

THE EDITOR, Sir:

I WRITE in response to Mr. Azar's letter entitled 'A lesson in competition' in today's Gleaner(May 28), in which he refers to what he describes as a 'callous' radio advertisement that advised customers to check the JPSCo web site for information on outages.

It is very unfortunate that the letter makes no reference to the rest of the advertisement, which gives the date and time of the particular outage, and lists the areas to be affected. The section of the ad to which the letter refers constitutes the final few seconds of a 30-second or 45-second outage advisory. In addition to these radio announcements, JPSCo also informs customers of scheduled outages through the weekly maintenance advisories in The Gleaner newspaper on Fridays. These press notices routinely carry a reminder to customers to call our toll-free line: 1-888-CALL JPSCo/ 1-888-225-5577.

JPSCo is very sensitive to the impact of outages on our customers, and so we make every effort to use all the available media to give advance notice of these outages. Most of our customers rely on the radio and press advertisements and use the toll-free line, but there are many who use the web site. The invitation to customers to use the web site was not meant to convey 'contempt'. Instead, it was meant to make them aware of another source of information on this important matter.

The Company does not take its position as a monopoly for granted. Our philosophy is that although we are not in competition for the supply of electricity, we compete with every company which provides service to customers.

You may have noticed that we recently launched our Guaranteed Standards of Service as a renewal of our commitment to provide customers with first class service.

These service standards were agreed on with the Office of Utilities Regulation, and in the event that JPSCo fails to meet any standard, the affected customer will be entitled to compensation.

We will continue to make every effort to improve our service delivery so that despite the current drawbacks, in time we can be among the leading customer service providers in the country.

I am etc.,

WINSOME CALLUM

Manager,

Corporate Communication

E-mail:

wcallum@JPSCo.com

6 Knustsford Boulevard

Kingston 10

Via Go-Jamaica

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