Hartley Neita

Reddy Kilowatt, the former advertising name for the Jamaica Public Service Company, has been killing many of its customers with unbelievably high bills, leaving these customers crying and angry.

The company operating the light and power utility should be happy it is now not a time when the word 'nationalisation' is in the political dictionary.

Jamaica began to enjoy the pleasure of electricity within 10 years of its discovery. A house in Black River, St Elizabeth, was the first building in Jamaica lit by electricity. Later, the major towns were provided with electricity, but it was not until the 1970s that residents in small towns and villages began to have their houses and offices lit with electricity.

Oil was the main source of the electricity generated in the early years. Each of the towns then had their own individual electric plants and they were not linked. The village in which I grew up did not have electricity. A factory which packed oranges for export to New Zealand used steam to produce its electricity. A windmill drew the water from a well to provide the villagers with domestic water.

The tram cars in Kingston operated from a hydro-electric plant on the Rio Cobre in St. Catherine. Since then, a few hydro-plants have come on stream.

gas lamps

In the early years, too, the streets of Kingston were lit at nights with gas lamps. Up to the 1950s, the main roads in Portland also had gas lamps. A crew of men called lamplighters travelled around Kingston, shortly after nightfall, lighting these lamps. It was a service which provided employment, and when it was first suggested that these gas lamps should be replaced with electric lamps, the councillors of the Kingston and St Andrew Corporation voted against the proposal as it would mean that these men would be thrown out of work.

We have become very dependent on oil to produce electricity. When the oil-producing countries decided to increase the price of oil in the 1970s, there was a flurry of activity in Jamaica to find alternative sources for the production of electricity. It was then that a number of small hydro plants were installed, which affected the beauty of some of our waterfalls. Peat in the swamps in Westmoreland was also investigated. There were also proposals to harness the power of waves.

There has been a renewed search for oil during the last 10 years. There have been rumours of several positive signs being identified but the actual discovery of oil is still just a hope. Amateurs, like myself, believe there is oil either under-land or off-shore. Look at the map of this region. There is oil in Venezuela and Trinidad, and then it bypasses Jamaica and is found in Cuba and offshore the south coast of Texas. There must be hope.

Meanwhile, there is an abundance of solar energy untapped. Only a few houses and offices use this source of energy to operate their lights and equipment.

The problem with solar energy is the high cost of installation. The Government could, however, take a lead role in this effort by eliminating import duty and GCT. Every new office, school, police station and other property built by Government, should include solar equipment.

solar equipment

Up to now, real estate developers do not seem to have any problem selling units in the new town-house complexes being constructed, and they should consider including solar equipment in their properties. Banks, credit unions and building societies could also develop packages with the companies which import and install this equipment, and offer long-term deals to their customers and members.

I have also wondered why the National Water Commission does not use solar power to provide electricity for its plants in remote areas. Is it a fear of thieves stealing the panels, or the cost?