THE EDITOR, Sir:

I read the article (Census highlights power gap, Sunday Gleaner, October 22) and want to respond to the point regarding JPS consumers versus customers.

Based on the census definition of a household, all consumers need not be customers and this is not because they are accessing electricity illegally. In summary, a household represents one person or a group of persons who occupy all or part of a dwelling unit.

This means that you can have several households in one unit with one meter, with the owner being the JPS customer.

Depending on the arrangement, all the households may pay their portion of the bill to the owner. The census is interested in finding out how many households have access, so every household answers the question, whether they are the JPS customer or not.

I hope you have an opportunity to clarify this, especially for the JPS.

Valerie Nam

Director, Censuses and

Demographic Statistics

Statistical Institute of Jamaica