Why This High Covid-19 JPSCo Bill???

Actual JPSCo Bill

Covid-19 has not only affected our health but also our pockets. The prices of several things have been going up and this include agricultural items and our JPSCo bills.
For this article I will look at our JPSCo bills.

Consumers are Sensitive to JPSCo Bills

Jamaicans are extremely sensitive to any increase in JPSCo bills and I can only speculate why this is so.  The following are some of the reasons I have come up with:

• As a society we are now heavily dependent on electricity and we no longer have certain skills which will allow us to live one night without electricity. 
• The children love their electrical gadgets to play with, we need to be on the Internet and without electricity we cannot be on it, that fan which is electrically operated cannot be off for even two minutes especially for those who live in Portmore. 
• It can also be very embarrassing if your electricity is cut off and the whole neighbourhood realizes that your electricity supply has been disconnected.
• Many Jamaicans are terribly upset about the high electricity cost because many people have not paid one cent for electricity for a long time while if they don’t pay their electricity service is disconnected.

Impact of Covid-19

Now, during covid-19 many persons stayed home during the period April to June. JPSCo subsequently advised us that staying at home would increase the amount of electricity used and consequently our bills would go up. JPSCo representatives noted that the children are at home entering the refrigerators more often, the fans are on, the lights and other gadgets are also being used while the family is at home.
The challenge is that many persons bills jumped significantly during covid-19 when we had to stay home from April to June 2020.

KwH Used

We agree that our usage more than likely would have increased during covid-19 lock down. If for example your KwH usage for May 2020 moved from 100 to 160 then your rate for 100 would be JAD9.66 but for the extra 60 KwH it would be JAD22.49. It means that the cost for 100 KwH would be JAD966.00 while the cost for the extra 60 KwH would be JAD1349 - See Section B under Current Usage and Rates on the bill displayed. This is the first area to look at to see if you have consumed more electricity for the month in comparison to last month.

Actual And Estimated Reading

Under Reading Type in Section A, check to see if your reading is an Actual or an Estimated reading. If it is and Estimated reading, if you check the last three bills which were Actual readings, then the current month usage should be the average of the last three actual readings. Just add the three last Actual reading and divided by three to get the Estimated reading for the current month.

Uncertainty

I am awaiting documents from the JPSCo so that I can understand the bill better but I decided that I must go ahead and look at the bill. I do not understand why the Taxable Changes of JAD490.11 for example has been taken out of the Total Current Electricity Charges Before Tax. Also, what is the amount that the GCT rate of 15% is charged on?

Foreign Exchange Rate Adjustment

The Base Foreign Exchange Rate is JAD128 and the Billing Rate is JAD142.95 as shown in Section B of the bill displayed. JPS has come up with a F/E Adjust @ 9.345%. My calculations give me 11.68%.

Conclusion

It is clear to me that many persons exceeded the 100 threshold for KwH used during the covid-19 stay at home period and the increased rate above this threshold caused significant increases in electricity bills. Those who went over a certain limit in terms of usage will also pay taxes I understand. Many persons have claimed that JPSCo is robbing them. If you think something is wrong then you ought to make a written complaint to the Consumer Affairs Commission. You must have a basis for your complaint. You cannot just say the bill is high which it is high. It is clear that the IPP charges and fuel charges are high and government might have to review that.

Some of the basis on which your report could based is as follows:

• The bills are incorrectly computed.
• The meters are defective and therefore the readings are incorrect.
• The foreign exchange adjustment figure is wrong.

Finally it is very important that we all learn to read our meters and we should probably do so in the middle of the month.

Please let me have your feedback especially if you see any errors of fact or judgement.

Visit my Facebook Page and my YouTube Channel.