The Office of Utilities Regulation OUR, has raised concerns about the effects of vandalism on service providers and their ability to make investments that  better equip them for disasters.

OUR Director General Ansord Hewitt highlighted the matter in his State of the Utility Sector Report at yesterday’s staging of the agency’s Director General’s Stakeholders Engagement at the  Jamaica Pegasus hotel.

He reflected on the performance of the utilities during the Hurricane Beryl period last July, pointing out the impact of theft and vandalism on utility company’s operations.

He stated that since 2025, the major telecommunication companies have reported millions in loss due to vandalism and theft.

Mr. Hewitt said the society cannot be silent on this issue.

Meantime, expanding on the issue of single points of failure during disasters, the OUR Director general said greater attention is being given to this problem.

According to Mr. Hewitt, Hurricane Beryl underscored in a very big way,  the extent to which the major utilities and other key infrastructure agencies, are interdependent and the need to ensure that redundancies and contingencies are in place to mitigate single points of failure.

He added that it also underlines the importance of coordination and cooperation among key stakeholders.