JPS enters retail market Selling customers products to cut energy cost

Sacha Walters-Gregory, Staff Reporter

National power supplier, Jamaica Public Service (JPS), is relinquishing power to its customers by venturing into retail, with its new e-Store which sells devices designed to cut customers' energy costs.

"It's really to put knowledge and information in our customers' hands. As you look at our products you'll see that a lot of our products are designed to do just that," said Kelly Tomblin, president and CEO of JPS, at the official opening of the first store last Thursday.

The power company, often dogged by customers' complaints of high energy costs, is selling devices to save energy, protect electrical equipment and monitor electricity usage, which will ultimately allow consumers to reduce energy consumption.

Located at the power company's Ruthven Road Customer Service Office, at 23 Ruthven Road, St Andrew, the store is one of four stores to be opened this year.

"The products really help our customers to say, this costs me that and unfortunately when you get a bill at the end of the month for activity done throughout that month there's nothing you can do about it at that time, but we're going to give them information along the way so they can afford that energy bill and then after that we're going to talk about how you decrease your usage," said Tomblin. She further explained that energy conservation needs to be more relevant to customers.

REAL CONSERVATION

"The reason we believe that these kind of products and stores are necessary is that we're finding although we give conservation a lot of lip service we haven't got passionate about it. I think it's because we haven't made it real, conservation and show a bill before and after. So we're hoping that along with the government we can lead the way to show real decreases in energy prices," she said.

One of the products available in the store is the Digital Energy Timer, invented locally, which can be attached to a variety of electrical devices, allowing owners to automatically turn these devices off when not in use by way of a timer or by way of the Internet. It can be applied on a small scale in homes or larger scale in businesses. According to a release from the company, "the timer, which also comes with an energy meter that measures power consumed, can be installed at distribution panels, electrical enclosures and specific zone areas and is particularly useful in determining energy usage of one section of a factory or a tenant in a rental situation. "

Other products include LED lights which can reduce energy costs by approximately $3,000 per bulb per year; an Energy Saving Kit ($2,900 including GCT), which includes a low-flow shower head that allows you to use 0.5 less gallons of water, a timer to alert you when you've reached the optimal time for a shower, a sensored night light and three energy-efficient bulbs and surge protector devices.

Customers can also access the devices available at the eStore, at JPS branches islandwide.

sacha.walters@gleanerjm.com)