All other areas on track for restoration of electricity by August 12
(Kingston: Thursday, August 8, 2024)
JPS has announced that it is on track to meet its August 12 deadline for full restoration of electricity to customers in all parishes, except St Elizabeth. The Company has now set a date of August 31 for restoration of service to sections of St Elizabeth, where its distribution infrastructure was almost totally destroyed.
“This is a rebuilding process, not a restoration,” said JPS’ new President & CEO, Hugh Grant, who visited the parish earlier this week. “Based on the extent of the devastation, the electrical infrastructure that supplies sections of St Elizabeth needs to be completely rebuilt. In some areas, the network will need to be redesigned and lines relocated. The rebuilding process will be challenging and tedious, because of the difficult rocky terrain in which we are working,” he explained.
“We are acutely aware of the frustration being experienced by our customers who are still without electricity, and we know this is not what they want to hear from us right now,” Grant acknowledged. “But I give my assurance that JPS will be doing everything we can to expedite restoration. We have acquired additional equipment, and forged new partnerships with local and overseas contractors and suppliers. We will be redeploying resources from across the other parishes to focus exclusively on St Elizabeth over the next few weeks. And today, a team of linemen is coming in from the Manitoba Hydro Electric Utility in Canada, to join our CARILEC colleagues who are already providing support for our local teams,” he said.
The JPS President & CEO indicated that priority attention will be given to critical water pumps as well as educational institutions in St Elizabeth during the rebuilding process. “We will be working closely with the local representatives, and will be in the communities with outreach activities to help ease the residents’ discomfort, and support their journey to full recovery,” he said.
JPS will provide further details of the specific communities in St Elizabeth that will be impacted by the delay in the restoration of electricity.
The Company has now restored electricity to approximately 98% of its customers islandwide, following the passage of Category 4 Hurricane Beryl on July 3. Except for a few areas with accessibility challenges, all customers outside of St Elizabeth are expected to be restored by Monday, August 12.
