Jamaicans are paying a dear price for the huge system losses at Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS). The cost amounts to US$27 million last year, but that is only the direct cost.
The cost to the wider society the loss in business opportunities and jobs lost due to higher operating cost, that makes some entities not as competitive as they ought, have not yet been quantified, but is likely to be far greater than the $27 million mentioned above. According to data from JPS, system losses increased by just over 1 percent last year, ending the year at 26.65 percent. That is huge, and is well over the 10 percent experts say it should be. JPS in a recent report to its shareholders said “Electricity theft resulted in a net penalty of US$18.4 million to JPS on the cost of fuel used in electricity generation.”
Faced with the massive theft of electricity, the company began curtailing the hours of service to certain communities where according to the company more than 70 percent of the electricity provided was being stolen. The move irritated the Office of Utilities Regulation and some politicians forcing the company to back off. Unfortunately, the issue of theft has been a longstanding problem which the government who have responsibility for keeping order in the society have failed to address, forgetting that it has wider implications for economic growth and development.