Sonia Mitchell, Staff Reporter

The global economic crisis and high electricity costs have been identified as crucial factors causing Jamaican consumers to shy away from spending hard-earned money on Christmas decorative lights.

Declining electricity consumption this year is evidence of the clampdown on consumer expenditure.

So far, peak demand for electricity (i.e., the highest demand on any one day) for 2008 is approximately 621 kilowatt-hours, compared to a peak demand of 629 kWh for 2007, the Jamaica Public Service Company Limited (JPS) has said. Peak demand for 2006 was approximately 625kWh.

Winsome Callum, head of corporate communications at the JPS, said, "The reduction in electricity usage in 2008 could be due to a number of factors, including the conservation efforts of customers because of the high fuel costs affecting electricity bills earlier this year."

Although the fuel charge on the electricity bills customers receive in December is the lowest since the start of 2008, the JPS said it did not expect a significant spike in electricity usage.

The power provider said it expected electricity usage during this month to be on par with consumption in December 2007.

Although many respondents in The Gleaner's street canvasses said they were scaling back on traditional Christmas frills, others were willing to hold on to sentimental practices.

Feeling the pinch

One taxi operator in Spanish Town, who asked that his name be withheld, said: "For the past three years now, I did not put up any lights, as I did not feel the Christmas vibes. But the other day I went into a store and saw some lights I liked, and decided to buy them."

Some consumers told The Gleaner that food purchases trumped the luxuries of Christmas decorations and lights, or buying new clothes.

Consumers aren't the only ones feeling the pinch of the global credit crisis. Checks with merchants in Kingston, Ocho Rios, and Montego Bay suggested that the bottom line for retailers who sold Christmas decorative lights had taken a hit.

An official at Woolworth on King Street, downtown Kingston, revealed that consumer purchases of Christmas lights were below expectations, which prompted the store to slash volume. The trend of reusing decorative lights year after year has also cut into company profits.

Reduced sales

The manager, who preferred to remain anonymous, said, "Sales have reduced massively because of the global economy in a recession that is causing the world to be in crisis, and everyone has seen that their disposable incomes are less than what they actually have to spend."

Azan SuperCentre in Cross Roads, St Andrew, said sales this year of decorative Christmas lights have plunged drastically, up to 50 per cent compared to 2007 and 2006.

Milade Azan, manager at Azan, told The Gleaner that because Christmas lights are a seasonal product, the store had been forced to sell them, sometimes at rock-bottom rates, to clear inventory.

According to Eva Demns-Blount, manager at Best Value in Ocho Rios, a variety store which sells clothes, toys and other gifts, its stock was sold out last year.

This year, however, the store did not make any lights purchases, because of warnings from the Bureau of Standards Jamaica about defective or hazardous products.

sonia.mitchell@gleanerjm.com