In the wake of Hurricane Melissa’s devastating impact on Jamaica on October 28, Energy Minister Daryl Vaz has expressed growing frustration with the Jamaica Public Service (JPS) over its handling of the crisis. The storm caused catastrophic damage, particularly in the southwestern parishes of St Elizabeth, Westmoreland, Trelawny, St James, Hanover, and Manchester, severely disrupting JPS infrastructure. However, even parishes less affected by the hurricane are experiencing significant power outages, leaving 462,000 of JPS’s approximately 700,000 customers without electricity as of Friday morning.
During a media briefing on Friday, Vaz emphasized the need for better communication from JPS, urging CEO Hugh Grant to adopt the approach used during Hurricane Beryl last year. Vaz criticized the lack of detailed updates, stating, ‘The communication that is coming out is not enough. Not enough to me and it’s not enough to those who’re affected. It’s not only about the amount of people who’ve been restored, it’s how many more are to be restored and what is the projection for them to be restored.’
Vaz highlighted the plight of residents in Kingston and St Andrew (KSA), where many remain without power. He stressed the importance of providing clear timelines for restoration, saying, ‘All they want to know, so that they can plan their business, is ‘what is the issue and when is it expected [to be resolved].’’
Grant assured Vaz that KSA would be fully restored by Sunday, but Vaz deemed this insufficient, demanding daily updates on restoration progress for all affected communities. He shared that KSA would be 90% restored by Sunday, St Thomas by midnight Sunday, and St Catherine by 75%. However, he called for more information on other parishes, including St Mary and Portland, where the majority of customers remain without electricity.
A detailed breakdown of outages shows alarming figures, with some parishes like Hanover, Manchester, St Ann, St Elizabeth, St James, St Mary, Trelawny, and Westmoreland experiencing 99% power loss. Vaz pledged to ensure JPS provides more detailed information and committed to overseeing full restoration in unaffected areas while developing a comprehensive plan for severely affected regions.
-Lynford Simpson