JPS wants ban on incandescent bulbs

Daraine Luton, Senior Staff Reporter

DAMIAN OBIGLIO, whose Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) is among the most resented utility providers on the island, wants the Government to impose a ban on incandescent bulbs.

"There is a crisis in the country and there has to be crisis decisions," Obiglio said.

The JPS head, who was speaking at a Gleaner Editors' Forum last Thursday, said the imposition of a ban on such products, as well as the implementation of bold energy-conservation policies, represents the best short-term solution in reducing electricity bills.

"That is an emergency situation and something has to be done now. Ban the sale of incandescent lamps in Jamaica," Obiglio said.

"Some countries have done that. That will immediately reduce the consumption," he added.

Incandescent bulbs are said to be the cheapest to buy, but because of their relative inefficiency and short life spans, they are usually more expensive to operate.

"Conservation is the only immediate action that you can do to reduce the cost of electricity," the JPS head said.

He pointed to the Cuban light-bulb programme as one area in which the Government has moved to reduce the consumption of energy. He, however, said the Government has not gone far enough in reducing consumption.

The Government, in 2006, started a programme to replace incandescent bulbs in households with energy-saving florescent bulbs. The Cuban light-bulb programme, as it became known, is said to have saved Jamaicans billions of dollars in electricity bills.

"The problem is that it was a single effort. It should have been combined with a policy from the Government that no appliances should be sold in Jamaica if they don't comply with certain standards, or like other countries that have banned completely the sale of incandescent lamps," Obiglio said.

Recently, figures supplied to The Gleaner by the energy ministry, under the Access to Information Act, show that Jamaica could save more than US$9 million annually, based on the latest distribution of fluorescent bulbs between March and June this year.

The energy ministry is yet to provide data on the savings from the initial implementation of the programme which started in 2006, but its figures show that despite the controversy, the programme remains a valuable one for Jamaica.

According to a report provided by the ministry, just over 151,000 energy-saving bulbs were distributed in five Corporate Area constituencies and St Thomas under the sixth stage of the programme conducted from March 22 to June 20 of this year.

These replaced 147,278 incandescent bulbs which were collected from homeowners and business operators.

The energy ministry said, based on its calculations, the sixth stage of the programme realised fuel savings of US$3.25 million, but that figure could be greater based on the increase in the price of oil on the world market.