Jamaica Public Service (JPS) customers should start getting easier-to-read electricity bills as of this month. The light and power company’s new President and CEO, Michel Gantois made the revelation while speaking on Taking Stock with Kalilah Reynolds recently. 

The CEO described the current bill layout as an “old fashioned” way of communication, which left customers wondering about their actual usage.

Michel Gantois,
President & CEO, Jamaica Public Service (JPS)

“I took it upon myself to change the tone of the conversation with customers,” said Gantois, reasoning that the bill needs to be simpler.

The bills will get simpler but the high degree of accuracy will remain unchanged, he reasoned. 

JPS has come under intense scrutiny this year over its billing practices. Many customers facing high light bills since the pandemic have complained that their bills were unjustified.  The situation was exacerbated when JPS tweeted that paying customers bear the brunt of the cost for electricity theft.

However, Gantois pointed out that the Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) had vidicated the utility following a study that revealed 98.9% of their billing was indeed accurate.

“We’re under scrutiny from the OUR all the time,” he said adding that there is always room for improvement in the company’s operations.

In a few weeks, customers should better understand their bills and the utility welcomes the feedback for refinement. Currently, the bills are the result of a formula that includes the consumers fuel usage and their actual light usage. The bill also displays a series of graphs showing usage over the last 12 months. Essentially appearing more as a technical report than a simple bill from the supermarket.  

Another improvement is that customers will be able to report electricity theft anonymously via the new  and improved JPS app.

Meanwhile, the CEO, who has completed about four months in the new position, said he intends to change the overall “monopoly-style” of the JPS during his tenure.

To do that, he said customers will have to be treated as if they can go somewhere else to get electricity. This, despite JPS being the sole distributor of electricity. The company however has a lot of competition on the generation side of electricity and consumers can exit the grid by building their own solar or wind power supply.

“Everything should be towards that goal,”  he said, noting that changing the track record and image of the company would be “a big win” for him as CEO.

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Watch the full discussion here: