OUR cops OCCUR Regulator of the Year award

WESTERN BUREAU:

The Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) has hailed winning the coveted OCCUR’s Regulator of the Year Award for 2025 and the Winston Hay Award for Most Outstanding Consumer Protection Initiative as a rare and meaningful validation of its much-vaunted position in the region.

 “It's a wonderful thing to have your colleagues acknowledge the work that you do. So that is really, really appreciated. I am particularly gratified by the Winston Hay Award for the Most Outstanding Consumer Protection Initiative for 2025,” said Ansord E. Hewitt, director general of the OUR.

The awards were handed out during the OCCUR (Organisation of Caribbean Utility Regulators) Gala and Awards, which brought the curtain down on the organisation’s 20th conference in Trelawny. They signalled the OUR and Jamaica’s growing influence in shaping utility standards and consumer protection across the Caribbean.

Central to that recognition was the OUR’s Quality of Service (QOS) Symposium, an initiative that has quietly evolved into one of the region’s more influential consumer-focused platforms. Originally designed to unpack findings from the regulator’s biennial National Consumer Satisfaction Survey, the symposium has, over seven years, expanded into a space for technical exchange, policy dialogue, and practical problem-solving among regulators, utility providers, and consumer advocates.

The process has yielded tangible outcomes, to include the development of Complaints Handling Guidelines and a Determination Notice that now formalise how utility providers respond to customer grievances, and tightening accountability while improving service delivery across Jamaica’s regulated sectors.

To secure the Winston Hay Award, the OUR demonstrated not only policy leadership but also innovation and measurable impact, the key benchmarks that assess improvements in customer experience, access, affordability, and service quality.

The Regulator of the Year Award, meanwhile, recognises a body that has gone beyond domestic performance to influence regional regulatory practices. The OUR was cited for its leadership role in collaborative Caribbean initiatives, and its success in promoting transparency and fairness in an often complex and technical field.

Hewitt used the moment to commend OOCUR for creating a platform that celebrates regional excellence.

“I commend the OOCUR Executive for institutionalising this award programme, a deliberate step in honouring our own in the region. Too often, we seek validation from others outside of our jurisdiction … . This evening, we are demonstrating that this does not have to be the case,” he said.

The award for consumer protection is named in honour of Winston Hay, the OUR’s first director general, who was appointed in 1996 and guided the agency through its formative years, including its official opening in 1997.

Former Trinidad and Tobago Energy Minister Kevin Ramnarine, who was the guest-speaker at the award, urged regulators to measure progress honestly even as they celebrate milestones.

Delivering the keynote address, Ramnarine  struck a reflective tone, urging regulators to measure progress honestly even as they celebrate milestones.

“Twenty years later, regulators are more professionally staffed and, in several jurisdictions, more independent. Consumer protection frameworks are better. OOCUR itself is a knowledge-sharing institution of real value,” said Ramnarine, referencing the growth of the OCCUR, which comprises 15 Caribbean countries.

albert.ferguson@gleanerjm.com

Dg-OOCUR 1

Ansord E. Hewitt, director general of the Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR), is presented with the Regulator of the Year Award by Marsha Atherley-Ikechi, executive director of OOCUR.

  Dg-OOCUR 2

Marsha Atherley-Ikechi (right), executive director of OOCUR Inc, presents the Winston Hay Award for Most Outstanding Consumer Protection Initiative 2025 to (from left) Collette Goode, manager of the Consumer Affairs Unit at the OUR and Yvonne Grinam-Nicholson, director of consumer and public affairs at the OUR.

CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS