Blown fuse trips out power to 20 families

APPLIANCES BELONGING to more than 20 families on Cedar Valley Road in Liguanea, St. Andrew, were destroyed by fire on Monday after a fuse at a nearby utility pole blew out.

But while residents blamed the subsequent black-out and damage to their equipment on a transformer exploding on the utility pole, the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPSCo) denied this and said preliminary investigations showed a burnt line could have been caused by illegal connectors overloading the circuit.

"The company has had problems with illegal connections at the Cedar Valley Road location from time to time. This sometimes causes problem on the system, resulting in unreliable quality of electricity supply to customers," the JPSCo said yesterday in response to Gleaner queries.

The company said a burnt power line came in contact with another line resulting in the blown fuse.

Meanwhile, residents said a representative from the community collected the names of the affected persons and planned to submit them to the light and power company for compensation. Electricity was restored to the area at 2:00 p.m. yesterday.

Artnel Tracey, 22, a barber at Classical Cut Barbers on Cedar Valley Road, said he lost five shears and "a whole heap of clients" since the fuse blew yesterday at about 7:45 p.m. He said a fan in his shop was also burnt out.

Housewife Pearline McDonald, 59, said her television was damaged and so too was her son's. "I called JPS this morning (yesterday) and asked them if they didn't get the report from last night, and all the operator say was that there was no light up here," Ms. McDonald said. Her neighbour, Phillip Johnson, 38, also lost his television.

One man, Raymond McLaughlin, 33, a leather craft vendor, told The Gleaner his refrigerator, television, component set, remote fan and sewing machine were all burnt.

But Ms. Callum said a transformer at the location continued to allow electricity to be supplied to customers. She said investigations were continuing into the matter and in cases where there was damage to equipment, JPSCo will process claims in keeping with its claim procedure.

"The JPSCo claims unit will investigate all reports of damages to equipment and in cases where it is found that JPSCo is responsible for these damages, the affected customers will be compensated," Ms. Callum said.

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