A meeting is to be held today between the Office of Utilities Regulation OUR and the Jamaica Public Service (JPS) after the company missed yesterday’s deadline to complete power restoration to customers islandwide, except for in St Elizabeth.

There are exceptions, for some areas that the JPS has indicated accessibility challenges.

The JPS stated that challenges with hardest-to-reach areas such as resource district, St. Andrew are due to landslides, fallen trees, and other issues.

According to the JPS’ most recent restoration schedule, which was issued on August 9, power supply to over $13,000 customers across the island, was yet to be restored.

On July 31, the OUR issued a directive to JPS to enforce strict compliance with the company’s latest schedule for returning power supply to customers affected by Hurricane Beryl, by August 12.

As the regulator, the OUR has an obligation to protect the interests of electricity consumers.

The our has requested that JPS provides a written report by the end of today on the status of compliance with the directive.

Following the meeting with JPS and receipt of the status report, the our will review the company’s response and outcome of its own surveillance / monitoring activities, to determine the next steps.

The OUR reiterated that failure by JPS to comply with the directive within the time specified could render it liable to enforcement action, as per the OUR Act.

The law outlines that a company can be deemed guilty of an offence, and liable upon summary conviction before a resident magistrate, to a fine not exceeding two million dollars.