Legal customers of JPS pay $1,000 extra per month for electricity theft

Energy Minister Daryl Vaz says the years-long approach of putting Band-Aid on the problem of electricity theft will be dealt with in a comprehensive way this year, starting with plans to be unveiled in the upcoming Budget.

His comments came against the background of questions posed by his opposition counterpart, Phillip Paulwell, in Gordon House yesterday regarding the costs being borne by legitimate customers of the Jamaica Public Service (JPS) for those using power illegally.

“I am confident that in the upcoming Budget Debate, that is going to be a key part of the minister of finance and the prime minister’s Budget presentations,” Vaz said.

He said over the past nine years, the annual average technical loss or electricity theft has been 8.2 per cent of the JPS’s generation output.

In 2023, the dollar value of electricity stolen was approximately $40.4 billion.

He said that a 2022 United States Agency for International Development report stated that a typical residential customer pays a little more than $1,000 more on each monthly bill as a result of electricity theft in Jamaica.

Vaz argued that it is going to take significant collaboration between JPS and the Government to address the issue.

He said it could take billions of dollars to make it affordable for persons who were not on the grid to receive power.

However, he acknowledged that JPS has made efforts to reduce electricity theft.