Electricity theft could mean lights out for JPS
Published:Friday | May 10, 2013 | 12:00 AM
Arthur Hall, Senior News Editor
The Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) is expressing concern that the long-running problem of electricity theft could cause its demise.
"For the JPS this might very well be the death knell ... . There is no business in Jamaica that can lose $2 million to $3 million per month and still be viable, so for us it has reached a very critical point," declared JPS President and CEO Kelly Tomblin yesterday during a media briefing.
Tomblin underscored that the JPS was at a financial precipice and could fall because it is in breach of a debt covenant which could trigger a demand for it to pay off US$425 million in debt.
According to Tomblin, the financial state of the company is worsened by electricity theft which triggered a penalty of US$30 million last year. That more than doubled the US$12.9 million which the JPS recorded as profit for the year.
"It is causing deteriorating financial performance that keeps me from doing many of the things that my team and I want to do to improve customer service," Tomblin told journalists during a media briefing at the JPS' New Kingston office.
"It is not just the theft, but it is also the penalty that we get because of the theft, so we are up against it and we don't know how to combat," added Tomblin.
Illegal connections removed
She said for the first three months of this year more than 54,000 illegal connections (throw-ups) were removed; 75 persons arrested and approximately 36,000 electricity audits conducted.
The JPS has also intensified the introduction of its Residential Automated Metering Infrastructure (RAMI) tamper-resistant metres with more than 22,000 persons connected at a cost of approximately $1,000 each. In addition, a special unit has been established to go after the commercial entities and other large users involved in electricity theft.
But Tomblin noted that these measures have not significantly reduced the level of electricity theft across the island.
"Estimates are that we still have 150,000 or up to 200,000 households stealing electricity and that's against the backdrop of less than 600,000 customers ... that could be a third of the people stealing so that is significant."
Multifaceted approach
According to Tomblin, the problem of electricity theft has to be addressed in a multifaceted way because it is a socio-economic problem that cannot be addressed only by the JPS.
"We have a goal in the country that 100 per cent of Jamaicans should have access to electricity ... but everybody cannot afford electricity, so what is the stop gap or the bridge? There is also the community acceptance of theft because we don't see persons being arrested in droves."
Tomblin argued that the root of the problem is crime and poverty and until these problems are addressed electricity theft will continue.
She charged that there needs to be tighter legislation with harsher penalties for electricity theft, even as she noted that the JPS does not benefit from the arrest of persons caught stealing electricity.
The JPS boss added that it needs the input of several different governmental and non-governmental organisations to come up with new measures to deal with the problem of electricity theft.
"We all have to get around the table and say let's find a different solution because this one isn't working."