The Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) says it secured approximately $6.3 million for customers following breaches by utility companies.

This information is contained in the OUR’s quarterly performance report for the first quarter of this year.

In a release, the OUR said the compensation comprises previously unreported credits to customer accounts in earlier periods plus $3.21 million relating to payments made in the January to March quarter.

According to the OUR payments by the Jamaica Public Service Company Limited (JPS) accounted for $4.15 million or 66 percent and National Water Commission (NWC) for $1.38 million or 22 percent of the total.

It noted that Columbus Communications accounted for more than $425,000 or 7 percent, Cable and Wireless Jamaica accounted for more than $259,000 or 4 percent and Digicel accounted for more than $50,000 or 1 percent.

The OUR said an additional $62.1 million in compensation was also made by way of credit to customer bills by the JPS, and the NWC for breaches of the guaranteed standards for the quarter.

JPS’s compliance report on its guaranteed standards performance for the review period indicated that 25,043 breaches were committed, representing a 5 percent decrease compared to the preceding quarter.

These breaches attracted compensatory payments of approximately $56.7 million, all of which were applied automatically to the affected customers’ accounts.

The NWC’s Guaranteed Standards compliance report for the review period indicates that over 3,800 breaches were committed during the review period, representing a 23 percent increase over the preceding period.

The OUR said during the January to March quarter, there was an 8 percent reduction in the number of contacts the OUR’s Consumer Affairs Unit received.

The most significant decrease was in the category of interruption of service which went down by 45 percent.

At 51 percent, billing matters remained the main reason utility consumers contacted the Consumer Affairs Unit, with JPS accounting for the highest number of such concerns at 25 percent followed by NWC at 21 percent.