THE EDITOR, Madam:
THE RECENT JPSCo fiasco of overcharge, refund and special tariff and now the current application for a price increase is a study in some of the critical faults which stifle this country.
First, is there a precedent anywhere for a more complicated bill than the one presented by JPSCo for electricity usage? A complicated system that defies audit, allows errors to go unnoticed and gave the powers that be the idea that here was a good way to separate us from some of our cash.
Then we throw in the incompetence and laziness of management which negotiates rates with private power suppliers at levels which are probably about the most expensive in the world. A Government, dedicated to putting their party first makes the amazing but quite in character decision that JPSCo should not increase prices to pay for expensive private power but should just continue to overcharge unsuspecting consumers for fuel.
You see, an election was coming up. Was the OUR around then? Would it have made a difference? I doubt it, OUR seems to be a hapless, useless body sponging up their share of scarce benefits and spoils. For that matter, was the Opposition anywhere to be seen representing the people? No. I forget which round of infighting they were into. Remind me. Who is it that is supposed to represent us anyway?
That strange mixture of incompetence, arrogance and complete contempt for the Jamaican people was of course in full tide at JPSCo. Here they were, by this time in full knowledge, robbing us to the tune of $2.9 billion and not even bothering to keep an account of it! When the bubble eventually bursts, we are once more treated to the Government's display of their priorities. The JPSCo have no idea what they owe each customer but to save the party, the Government insists, refunds must be made immediately. To avoid bankruptcy, legislation has to be rushed through the House that will allow JPSCo to make refunds with one hand and take it back with the other in the form of a special tariff.
But that's no problem. Of course the framers of the bill, much less the desk bangers didn't bother to research the bill enough to realise that they were creating a scenario where one customer would get a refund and another would pay the tariff. What will be done about this? Does any Parliamentarian have what it takes to demand recall of this unjust bill and to correct the situation? It would be very interesting to see how our judges would rule if asked to adjudicate in this obviously unjust scenario.
I am aggrieved only to the tune of $112 which, in principle, I will refuse to pay, those of you who are out of pocket by varying sums will decide for yourselves what to do.
Now, we hear, the JPSCo wants another increase, I hear them talking nonsense about not getting an increase since 1991. Legally they got an immediate increase with every change in the cost of fuel, illegally they took more than that and had $2.9 billion of our money interest-free. (They say its $2.9 billion, who knows what the amount really is?). Also, they just got a tariff that gave them almost $2.7 billion, now they want more!
The OUR is examining this. For what purpose? To what end? They publish at great cost full page ads of mumbo jumbo which means nothing to 99 per cent of us, I suppose later they will boast that we were fully informed. Informed of nothing! Give us some useful information, Mr. OUR, give us a table showing what other countries charge, what their costs are.
Tell us how much wastage, free electricity given away that we are asked to subsidise.
Do we have any fat cats in JPSCo? Is management pulling their weight? How do they compare with their counterparts? Tell us what all these different rates mean and who is subsidising whom and why? Pull that foolish ad, make 10 photo copies and deliver them to the few who can make sense of it, publish useful information for the rest of us that will permit for sensible and reasonable assessment as to how our electricity dollar is being spent and what future we can look forward to.
I am, etc.,
RICHARD PHILLIPS,
Kingston
