⚡LATEST UPDATES: ▶15 SEP ◀ 🎬WATCH the video update here: ruclips.net/video/WV9qyUMNSu8/видео.html ▶13 SEP ◀ ► I began working on the video update to publish on Sep 15, as there is a lot to tell in a post. ▶9-11 SEP ◀ ► Media publishes multiple articles, claiming that JPS confirmed that September bills will reduce: radiojamaicanewsonline.com/local/jps-confirms-reduction-in-customers-september-bills jamaica-star.com/article/news/20240909/significant-reduction-expected-september-jps-bills-vaz jamaica-gleaner.com/article/lead-stories/20240910/jps-customers-get-lighter-bills-month iriefm.net/government-to-ensure-that-jps-adheres-to-the-prescribed-electricity-bill-adjustments/ ► FACT CHECK: FALSE // MISLEADING JPS did NOT say that September bills will reduce. JPS said 'reduction in fuel charge,' which is not the same thing, as your bill might stay the same or even increase due to yet another 'spike in consumption.' And there was no reduction in fuel charge either (see 10 Sep update). In reality, JPS simply confirmed they will not overcharge their customers for fuel in September, like they did in August, and returned the rate to where it was before the hurricane. ▶10 SEP ◀ ► JPS announced "Reduction in Fuel Charge on Bills This Month" www.jpsco.com/reduction-in-fuel-charge-on-bills-this-month/ Their post says "We are happy to share that there is a 34% reduction in the Fuel Charge component of your bill this month. ...the Fuel Charge has moved from J$32.17 on August 2024 bills to J$21.30 on September 2024 bills." ► FACT CHECK: MISLEADING. JPS presents this as a 'reduction in the fuel charge,' while in reality, it's NOT a reduction; it's a return to the rate they had before the hurricane. For reference, here is what the fuel charge looks like in 2024 to date: (these are prices in JMD per kWh) 26.913 - JAN 23.353 - FEB 24.997 - MAR 21.249 - APR 24.300 - MAY 24.587 - JUN 24.335 - JUL 32.172 - AUG
hey irie people need solar.. 8-10 panels n 4-5 car batteries n a 1500-2500W inverter can run medium fridge in daytime n run fan lights etc all day...may need few more batteries n panels but less than 2 year jps bill. contact me for details n instructions
This is investigative journalism at its finest-excellent work, and thank you! Here’s something outrageous: at our primary residence, we have solar power with a diesel generator for full backup, which means we could easily cut ties with JPS, but we stay connected for redundancy. As soon as we switched to solar, JPS replaced our meter, preventing us from selling power back to the grid. Our solar setup carried us through the hurricane, with the generator only running for about an hour in all of August, despite being without electricity for about two days. With our solar and generator setup, our bill is usually very low, but we noticed a significant increase nonetheless. My next step is to disconnect from JPS entirely-chopping the wire from the house (if it’s legal 😂). The only way to disrupt JPS is for more Jamaicans to become less dependent on them. Not everyone can afford solar, but those who can access affordable NHT loans should act instead of just complaining-talking never fixed anything in Jamaica. Again, fantastic video!
the problem is that the more Jamaicans go solar, the harder it would be for those who stay with JPS, as the prices would become way too high. This is what JPS said in 2022 - their issues are with demand. The lower the demand for their service, the higher the prices. It's complicated.
@bigtoolgarry I meant the number of customers is very low. Energy is a must have product, so the demand for product itself is not just "high", it's an essential product and there is no competition, so people will have to buy it no matter what the price is. HOWEVER, there is a very small demand in terms of the number of customers and how they are spread out, as a result - JPS can't make the product cheaper. If they had to sell electricity to 5 million people all living in one place - it would have been cheaper per person, but if they have to sell it to only 692,000 customers and all of them are spread out, the price per customer works out much higher. I meant the demand in terms the number of customers, not the demand in terms of people want or don't want the product.
@@socialright2269 I meant the number of customers is very low. Energy is a must have product, so the demand for product itself is not just "high", it's an essential product and there is no competition, so people will have to buy it no matter what the price is. HOWEVER, there is a very small demand in terms of the number of customers and how they are spread out, as a result - JPS can't make the product cheaper. If they had to sell electricity to 5 million people all living in one place - it would have been cheaper per person, but if they have to sell it to only 692,000 customers and all of them are spread out, the price per customer works out much higher. I meant the demand in terms the number of customers, not the demand in terms of people want or don't want the product.
That's because we have too many journalists who are compromised. Failing to do in-depth investigation in fear of losing access and taking money from corporations to mislead the public so the grift can continue unabated.
Thanks for shedding light on this. JPS need to be stopped, they're morally corrupt. How can they charge customers for something they didn't use? St. ELIZABETH was w/o light for almost a month and customers are getting these outrageous prices.
This Lady, an independent journalist does better work than Gleaner, TVJ and CVM put together. Mad respect 🫡 32:16 you are not "just a journalist" you are the only real journalist in Jamaica
I said this before and was challenged on it. I did ask for someone to send me any article or video from a journalist in Jamaica with near to similar work. All the so called journalists are lazy poor shallow people who care very little about journalism. This has caused so much confusion in the country as to what is factual and what's fiction. Not one of them any good.
I endorsed everything that this lady is doing for us in Jamaica, I have been watching her videos and I must say as a Jamaican living in Jamaica, there are a lot of things I never known about Jamaica if it wasn't for here channel, her detail to things are accurate and easily understood, she is on par, the gleaner, observer and other Jamaican media cannot come close to her in giving us the information we needed, I am totally pleased of her and her wonderful work she is doing.
The Jamaica Public Service has been robbing Jamaicans for years! The OUR, in my opinion, is ineffective in regulating the power company. I don't trust the reading of meters that are stacked in a box high up on a JPS pole. Customers have no way of reading those meters. JPS needs more accountability and regulation.
Excellent work Irie! It is shameful AND disgraceful that none in the Main Steam Media sought it fit to conduct such a thorough investigation. CVM, TVJ, Nationwide etc should be ASHAMED of themselves.. unless of course they are indeed more a part of the problem than we all know
The real problem can be that the journalists who work for main stream media are not paid to do such work, so why would they waste 100+ hours of their time? I'm not paid either, as it's way too much work, while the financial returns are not enough to cover the costs, but because there are people who appreciate my work and many support me on patreon, I don't want to let them down and hence still keep this channel going and do my best to deliver quality. Journalists at MSM don't have such an incentive, unfortunately, and don't have the funds to do this work (their salary won't be enough to cover the cost of video production).
@@JAMAICAWITHIRIEthanks for your amazing work. We appreciate it. I look forward to the updates too. This journalist production is of unprecedented quality for Jamaica, in my opinion. There are not sufficient words to commend your efforts. I even understand why mainstream media is not yet doing this work. Perhaps they may follow up on your video, which is likely to go viral!
Thank you for all your efforts. I have said it before and I will say it again, the citizens of Jamaica is indebted to you and will be for a very long time. Thanks for making Jamaica your home. We appreciate you. Love and respect 👍
This is Jamaica we're talkin about, corrupt from top to bottom. If these meters can be manipulated, it's more likely than not that JPS manipulated them to their benefit. Every body is for sale in Jamaica, so not difficult pay off the regulators. If I were to move back there, my house would be 100% off grid. Excellent reporting, you're a gem
Jamaica is actually not as corrupt as people assume, it's a common misconception, but Jamaica is "in the middle", when it comes to corruption levels in the world. Also, corruption isn't needed when it comes to meters manipulations. This can be done without bribing anyone and without letting the Government or OUR know. 🤷♀Still, I think it was a technical error that caused meter issues, as if it was manipulated, at least they would have not sent the bills to people who they knew had no electricity supply, as such bills are basically exposing them.. But still, thank you so much for the support and glad if you've found the video useful.
@@JAMAICAWITHIRIE I appreciate your optimism but where on the corruption spectrum we sit, is of little value to the people it affects on a day to basis and the people who can least afford it. This particular incident may or may not be due to their maleficence, but they are for sure, tweaking some bills. An example is, Vybz Cartel mentioned a situation where his JPS bill was sharply increased, when his name was placed on the bill. JPS aside, I will argue that corruption in Jamaica is the number one thing that has stymie the progress of Jamaica. When you understand the amount of money that have been spent because of corruption, you'll get a true understanding of the magnitude of the situation, and why I I said what I said. I've been on the ground so to speak and have seen it and lived it. I understand world rankings and all of that, but that is no consolation when you see how much damage, the little corruption we have, have done. There is not one politician that is not corrupt, very few police are not corrupt at some level. Almost everyone will give or take a bribe to get things done. The more bloated the civil service gets, the more corruption you will get and we have a bloated one.Yes we have progressed, but not at the level or the rate that we are capable of, had it not been for the widespread corruption. Whatever you think you may know about corruption in Jamaica, trust me when I say, you have not even begin to scratch the surface. We should sit and have a conversation when I do visit, I'll introduce myself.
@@JAMAICAWITHIRIEAlways love how you respond. We tend to use words that are commonly said to define problems without full understanding and stating solutions. I am willing to put my money in a gofund me to pay for a lawyer who can represent the people in court to change the contract the Goverment signed with the owners of JPSCo. What is happening with JPSCo is deep and we need strong muscles to fight it.
@@seanmighty206 why?it's actually the other way around. The info about corruption cannot be obtained by living in a country. To understand what's really happening with the country - we need to look at the data thouroughly gathered by various agencies, then cross reference this data and compare it to all other countries in the world. People who live in the country would normally get this info wrong as they are influenced by personal experience, incorrect info they keep hearing from childhood and too much misinformation from the media and people around them. They become biased and think "they know", while in fact they never check any info they get. Basically, people need to live in a country to learn culture, language etc, but problems like corruption or crime - it's best to study in context.
Thank you for investigating the JPS Bill increases. I was one of the consumers that sent by copies of jps bills to you. I also sent a complaint to the JPS. I received a reply informing me that my bills from May 2024 to August were Estimated. So that is the reason why I received such a large bill. I then asked that in the future can I get an actual reading. Jps replied saying they aim to provide actual readings, but there are times that an estimate has to be provided. Thank you so much for doing what you are doing for the people of Jamaica.
Thank you for sharing! Does it say on your bills that they are "Estimated". I'm looking at all the bills that have been sent to me, and most of them have "Actual", not "Estimated", that was a part of the problem.
my question to you is that, do you have a smart meter? if you do then how comes the smartness of such device was not applicable to you? 2nd, why your meter stop from working for so long and was not replace, 3rd why wasn't you inform from then.
Go back to all your bills and see how much the previous actual bill was after a series of estimates. I hey will try to explain everything away in a convoluted manner
Very Very Very good job Irie. Im concerned about your safety while you share this truth. Be happy and careful. The world needed to see this. Share share share guys to your international families and channels. Help Jamaicans get justice. I met you from afar in St.Elizabeth at the Black River Film Festival with Ava. I was the American Ambassador. It was a pleasure to see you just as delightful in person as pn t.V. One Love, be Blessed!
Jamaica communities should join together and go solar off grid and boycott corrupted JPS that has never benefit Jamaica people fairly they are too greedy and without proper service to the Jamaica citizens.
not possible and reason i say that is that its not very effective when you need sun light 24 seven and that the solar panel come in different percent of solar absorption from 10% to 15% to 20% and up and thats why the panels are so expansive and the reason they made them that way is cuz the U.S.A FUCKING GOVERNMENT made a law for that then giving the panels 100% of their usage
Why so quick to praise a foreigner. When a local including yourself could have done the same research. All of the information is available for those who are interested in gathering and presenting. Sorry Irena no shade to you. You have done an excellent job as usual. My concern is the typical mindset of Jamaicans who sit back and wait for people who come from abroad to tell them about their own country when we are living in the Information Age. And instead of just thanking you they go on about that you should get an award or some government ministry should hire you or praise you. To me this kind of behaviour is a sure sign of an inferior complex. The inferior complex is the main problem and not JPS. As such all foreign companies know that they can get away with things in Jamaica that they can’t get away with in most countries
@@selvinlinton my comment has no bearing on her national origin. It seems like you have some unresolved internal conflict. Please don’t project that on me or Irina. The viewers have every right to commend her for the stellar journalism, as we would anyone else, whether they are Jamaican or not. Since all the information is available, perhaps you should take on a similar project so that some unsuspecting viewer can leave a comment extolling your work.
@@selvinlinton There are plenty of Jamaican born journalists who received a prize for their work and have been aknowledged. I've never seen a foreigner receiving one. The reason such investigation hasnt been done by other people (whether locals or foreigners), is because it requires 100+ hours of unpaid work and people dont like working for free. Such investigations also require a degree in engineering, otherwise you won't know the questions to ask to be able to find the information, even if it is available online. Journalists rarely have engineering degrees, hence the problem.
@@selvinlintonI actually wish all the information was as readily available as you suggest. Fact of the matter is that most lay persons don’t have the spare time, know how, or even device to do extensive research to find data that the owners of the data don’t necessarily want to be easily found. And Irina is not the average foreigner in this regard…she is leveraging her particular educational training to fill a niche that should not exist in any civilized country with a respectable investigative news media. Given a choice, I would actually prefer not to have to turn to any vlogger’s report on national news. Perhaps one day the alternatives won’t be so few.
Thanks for the clarity Irene. You have done a thorough investigation that is easy to understand. Howvever, am sure they are going to use your information to justify their actions. Continue to do what you do. JPS will win no matter what....God help us.
Am living this nightmare for years and there is no one to talk to when u go to there office they told u have to pay what's on ur bill Mam and that's its thanks for this video I hope through this video our voice and cries may be heard
Love this. A well researched and thorough report, the hallmark of Irina's video. Top quality reporting. I wish the Gleaner, TVJ, CVM, and the Jamaican Observer would research their stories as thoroughly.
Thanks for your analytical critique & useful suggestions. You’re a gem! Continue to provide useful & insightful content. NWC needs to be scrutinised as to their practice of double billing - yes, issuing 2 different bills with different charges for the same period. One via email, the other by mail.
I just saw this and had to send it to my contacts. This is investigative journalism at its best. How is it that we are unaware of much of what is in this content? Thank you for the information.
Very well done! I wonder if they realized the huge increase, scratched their heads, and said, send the crazy bills anyway! I also wonder how many simply cannot pay and are going without? The whole thing is a disgrace. A $2M fine is almost incentive to keep screwing people.
This type of corporate greed needs proper investigation and punitive action if necessary, including forcing the sale of JPS. The compensation packages of the companies executives should also be scrutinized to determine whether these arbitrary increases in customers' bills have resulted in bonuses, pay increases, or stock options.
yep, I mention this when talking about new meters installations in 2011, but it was the case before as well. I wonder what was happening when JPS was owned by the Government though, before 2001. Were the rates also very high and bad service? I could only find so far that the company was sold with a goal to improve service and bring the rates down, but looks like it didn't work.
That was a clumsy attempt at saying that a meter can’t be tested by using another meter and comparing their readings. From your video, I understood that smart meters could only be read remotely and didn’t actually display the readings. On reflection, I realize I must have been wrong, because such a situation would be intolerable.
I've been in America since the end of July and the only thing I left plugged in at my house in Jamaica is my refrigerator. Tell me why I just got a 12 thousand dollar bill and I am still in America and no one is at my home.
Most likely in your case the reason is voltage fluctuations and power instability. Things you see in a form of "flickering lights". Generally, this does not cause an actual increase in electricity consumption, but this can cause the meter to misread or incorrectly record the electricity usage, leading to a higher bill, even if the actual consumption hasn't increased. Also.. if there was an outage for a few hours or even 5-10 mins, your fridge will need more electricity to "get cold" again. As a result, your consumption will increase. If you're not at the place, it's best to turn off the breaker completely, otherwise who knows what your bill might be like or worse - it might be a safety issue if case of surges.
@@JAMAICAWITHIRIE Thanks for mentioning the possibilities of the $12k J bill in that month. But Ms Irie, unplugging the refrigerator will cause a spoil in food. This bill is just shy of $100 US which could be considered high when on vacation and not using the AC, etc
Same for me. Left end of June and came back end of July and my bill for July is 45k and then 54k in Aug which are the amounts I pay usually when my entire family at home but all of us overseas and no one home
Thank you so so much for your timely investigative work with JPS on the behalf of the Jamaica people. JPS is out of control and it's very hard on a lot of us. My May bill was 9k and change in May, my June bill went up to 14k so I went to them about it, and they kindly told me I used it so I paid it. In July my bill jumped to 24k i went back and they told me to get an Electrician to check the wires and the meter as water could be in it. I paid only 14.7k. In August my bill skyrocket to a whopping 60k plus. I have not done anything, different, I have not buy any new appliance for years, it's very frustration and pocket draining.. Something must be done to STOP JPS again. Thank you
@@JAMAICAWITHIRIEPlease investigate a court case JPSCO vs People of Jamaica that happened some years ago. Your findings will show JPSCo will always make a profit.
Thank you for this comprehensive expose! It has been my ongoing struggle with JPS, for over 2 years now, for my home's monthly electrical consumption. Repeated letters, calls, independent electrical contractors analysis, has only resulted in their stock boilerplate responses. I have experienced dramatic monthly variation in the JPS reported electrical consumption and have long concluded that problem ls largely in the faulty and inaccurate wireless meters.
I received an email from JPS just this week where JPS informed me we are also paying 40% of our bills for people thieving light! That f… up my head when they said that because how is possible people stealing light and we are paying for their theft?
JPS informed you that 40% of your bill is paying for people stealing the electricity? Can you please forward this letter to me jamaicawithirie@gmail.com please? It's important, because JPS has never admitted to doing so as it's actually illegal and they are not allowed to directly charge their customers for electricity theft done by others. So, it's either you misunderstood their letter or you can directly take them to court.
@@JAMAICAWITHIRIE yep this is absolutely true. And we have a neighbor on one side that steals power, and squatters behind us brazen enough to build concrete houses on stolen land, they opened a bodega on residential land, plus those jackasses steal power and water, and they are dumb enough to burn plastic in their firepits. Most of our power use is covered by solar so no crazy bills.
@@ecksearoh6283 bet no one reports the thieves, nor should they have to. I recall years ago in the US when cable TV theft was actually very high, until supposedly after then cable companies found a way to send an electronic “bullet” back through the cable line to unauthorized devices. Whatever the solution was, you rarely hear of cable theft anymore, at least not in previously popular areas.
@@JAMAICAWITHIRIE we can’t know the answer to that question due to the most salient pieces of information, that I presume was not available to you, so was not included in this report. You mentioned the profit JPS made last year, but we don’t know the true and complete cost being incurred by JPS to get each kw of power to a consumer, COMPARED to other electricity providers elsewhere who are buying electricity at similar rates as JPS does. I have heard that their power stations and equipment is woefully inefficient. And if that is true, they still have no incentive to invest in new equipment or improvements, IF they are at liberty to just keep passing along 100% of that waste to Jamaican consumers.
@@faithm2535 we actually know the true and complete cost being incurred by JPS to get each kw of power to consumer. We also know that they invest about 60-80 million usd into JPS each year. We also know that they lose from 25 to 35 million USD each year due to electricity theft. This information is available in their Annual reports that includes all the details of their financials, these are very thorough financial reports. Because JPS is a regulated company, they have to go through the financial audit that is then made public, so we know everything they have to pay and how much they earn. However, it's not the profit the owners are mainly interested in, not even the dividends, but the ROI, ROA and ROE (return on investment, return on assets and return on equity). Roughly, the investors want to pay 500 million for JPS shares and then sell these same shares for 1 billion claiming the increase in value. That's something what Mirant did. When they were in big trouble in 2001 due to energy market crisis, they invested in JPS and then in just 6 years they got out by almost doubling their $ returns, regardless the fact that JPS, as a company, didn't make much profit. This is also why Marubeni (the current owner), first bought 80% of the shares in 2007, then sold 40% to UAE company, then bought them again and then sold 40% to EWP (Koreans). Anyway, it's complicated, that's why I didn't go into these details in the video and left it for later, when doing a full documentary on JPS.
@@faithm2535 also I noticed you highlighted the "compared to" other electricity providers elsewhere - well, other providers have other conditions for sure. Some of them have to pay much higher (!) taxes than JPS pays, some have much cheaper fuel access etc. However, all utility companies operate similarly in terms of their strategy to earn from this product, how to lower costs and increase returns. Even if the company is owned by Jamaican people (aka becomes a public company), the problem will remain, as effective management would still have to ensure the company is profitable, otherwise it will be a collapse or will have to rely on the help from the government, which means on taxes, which means... again the money we, as consumers, pay.
@@JAMAICAWITHIRIE I was pleasantly surprised to find their annual report online, tho even just skimming, I was have only gotten through about half of the 156 pages of mostly non crucial info, and not the specifics that I am looking for on two main things…what specific, tangible investments did they make to improve efficiency in the delivery of electricity, and what if any actions did they take to reduce electricity theft? Audits that only check if the reported math adds up is almost as useless as historical accountability on the quality and cost for road construction in Ja. The public deserves to know what if any actual steps are being taken to mitigate JPS’s cost, versus possibly use of fancy math or even tricky meter readings to pass along unfair costs back to paying consumers.
Irie, your documentary is of a very high quality as usual. Its clear JPS needs some competition, to sort them out. Just plain corruption, and it would appears that the piwers that be who are in charge of the country is drinking out of the same saucer. My spirit is tired of the antics of those people.
Watching this investigative journalism and the quality of delivery, highlights clearly the low standard of mainstream media in Jamaica, as a Jamaican, I am very much ashamed. While I appreciate the quality of this ladies work, the importance of this quality journalism, this also highlight the fact that our media houses in Jamaica really needs to do better. The quality of work by many organizations in Jamaica, including our tertiary institutions is the primary reason why, most Jamaican educational qualifications as to be validated and some cases, rendered useless by most developed countries. As a people, as a country, as a ethnic group, we must do better. Wonderful work by the author, shame on the mainstream media houses in Jamaica.
I have solar installed at my home and it tells me how much KWH that i consume every month (using SOLARK Inverter). For the last 3 months, the consumption shown on the solar installation matches with the jps bills. But for the july and august bills, the jps consumption values are 30% more than what the solar installation shows. This alone proves to me that JPS over charging customers to compensate for the expenses of huricane beryl. The government needs to put a stop to this immediately. Many of the solar companies in jamaica knows this as i have spoken to a many of them and they have confirmed that same issues as i have experienced.
This is some solid evidence. If you can share this data from SOLARK with me via email, I would really appreciate, as I can present it to OUR when I'll be seeing them for further push. 🙏 My email is jamaicawithirie@gmail.com
I talk about this in the video at 7:31 It's not possible to break up the monopoly (there are 3 other electricity production companies in Jamaica, but it doesn't help)
Great info. I was thinking about the funding/aid JPS would receive and you answered that question. It’s so disheartening that JPS answered fuel surcharges was the issue instead of admitting a problem they would look into and resolve. Now they are 100% untrustworthy. Anyone in St E, Mandeville etc with no power for weeks should have their bills wiped out completely. 😤
I am in St Catherine and I suffered only minor power disruption during the hurricane. However, I too received an August bill based on an 'actual' reading which reflects usage higher than this house has ever used before. There has been no change in the appliances or usage pattern between July and August.
This video should get many awards. Thanks for exposing both the JPS and OUR incompetence. As far back when I lived in Jamaica, JPS has always been a parasite company sucking the lifeblood out of Jamaicans’ hard earned money. There should be tighter regulation of them.
Thank you for this. We have bought a home in Jamaica, and this is the company I fear the most. As they're a monopoly, they're notorious for ripping people off. The govt and OUR turn a blind eye!
I also live in St. Elizabeth. My bill is almost the same as the previous month. I got a bill for july and another for August to be paid in September by the 10th . This is after not having a supply for over 6 weeks.
⚡LATEST UPDATES:
▶15 SEP ◀
🎬WATCH the video update here:
ruclips.net/video/WV9qyUMNSu8/видео.html
▶13 SEP ◀
► I began working on the video update to publish on Sep 15, as there is a lot to tell in a post.
▶9-11 SEP ◀
► Media publishes multiple articles, claiming that JPS confirmed that September bills will reduce:
radiojamaicanewsonline.com/local/jps-confirms-reduction-in-customers-september-bills
jamaica-star.com/article/news/20240909/significant-reduction-expected-september-jps-bills-vaz
jamaica-gleaner.com/article/lead-stories/20240910/jps-customers-get-lighter-bills-month
iriefm.net/government-to-ensure-that-jps-adheres-to-the-prescribed-electricity-bill-adjustments/
► FACT CHECK: FALSE // MISLEADING
JPS did NOT say that September bills will reduce. JPS said 'reduction in fuel charge,' which is not the same thing, as your bill might stay the same or even increase due to yet another 'spike in consumption.' And there was no reduction in fuel charge either (see 10 Sep update). In reality, JPS simply confirmed they will not overcharge their customers for fuel in September, like they did in August, and returned the rate to where it was before the hurricane.
▶10 SEP ◀
► JPS announced "Reduction in Fuel Charge on Bills This Month"
www.jpsco.com/reduction-in-fuel-charge-on-bills-this-month/
Their post says "We are happy to share that there is a 34% reduction in the Fuel Charge component of your bill this month. ...the Fuel Charge has moved from J$32.17 on August 2024 bills to J$21.30 on September 2024 bills."
► FACT CHECK: MISLEADING.
JPS presents this as a 'reduction in the fuel charge,' while in reality, it's NOT a reduction; it's a return to the rate they had before the hurricane. For reference, here is what the fuel charge looks like in 2024 to date:
(these are prices in JMD per kWh)
26.913 - JAN
23.353 - FEB
24.997 - MAR
21.249 - APR
24.300 - MAY
24.587 - JUN
24.335 - JUL
32.172 - AUG
hey irie people need solar.. 8-10 panels n 4-5 car batteries n a 1500-2500W inverter can run medium fridge in daytime n run fan lights etc all day...may need few more batteries n panels but less than 2 year jps bill. contact me for details n instructions
@@JAMAICAWITHIRIElooking fantastic
Don't waste time with jackasses that make silly comments. I/ we appreciate your work here and across all your channels. @@JAMAICAWITHIRIE
@@jaymoore5407 Thank you, you're right.
My bill was more than 10% higher than usual too. I live in Portmore and did not lose power during the hurricane.
This is investigative journalism at its finest-excellent work, and thank you! Here’s something outrageous: at our primary residence, we have solar power with a diesel generator for full backup, which means we could easily cut ties with JPS, but we stay connected for redundancy. As soon as we switched to solar, JPS replaced our meter, preventing us from selling power back to the grid. Our solar setup carried us through the hurricane, with the generator only running for about an hour in all of August, despite being without electricity for about two days.
With our solar and generator setup, our bill is usually very low, but we noticed a significant increase nonetheless. My next step is to disconnect from JPS entirely-chopping the wire from the house (if it’s legal 😂). The only way to disrupt JPS is for more Jamaicans to become less dependent on them. Not everyone can afford solar, but those who can access affordable NHT loans should act instead of just complaining-talking never fixed anything in Jamaica. Again, fantastic video!
the problem is that the more Jamaicans go solar, the harder it would be for those who stay with JPS, as the prices would become way too high. This is what JPS said in 2022 - their issues are with demand. The lower the demand for their service, the higher the prices. It's complicated.
"The lower the demand, higher the prices" ¿ it should be the other way around 😂😂@JAMAICAWITHIRIE
@bigtoolgarry I meant the number of customers is very low. Energy is a must have product, so the demand for product itself is not just "high", it's an essential product and there is no competition, so people will have to buy it no matter what the price is. HOWEVER, there is a very small demand in terms of the number of customers and how they are spread out, as a result - JPS can't make the product cheaper. If they had to sell electricity to 5 million people all living in one place - it would have been cheaper per person, but if they have to sell it to only 692,000 customers and all of them are spread out, the price per customer works out much higher. I meant the demand in terms the number of customers, not the demand in terms of people want or don't want the product.
@@socialright2269 I meant the number of customers is very low. Energy is a must have product, so the demand for product itself is not just "high", it's an essential product and there is no competition, so people will have to buy it no matter what the price is. HOWEVER, there is a very small demand in terms of the number of customers and how they are spread out, as a result - JPS can't make the product cheaper. If they had to sell electricity to 5 million people all living in one place - it would have been cheaper per person, but if they have to sell it to only 692,000 customers and all of them are spread out, the price per customer works out much higher. I meant the demand in terms the number of customers, not the demand in terms of people want or don't want the product.
@bigtoolgarry yep, you're right 👍
They’re blatantly lying and getting away with it. Your literally Jamaica’s best journalist
That's because we have too many journalists who are compromised. Failing to do in-depth investigation in fear of losing access and taking money from corporations to mislead the public so the grift can continue unabated.
But ain't this Jamaica lying lying in every corner of society
Agreed. Yet to find the mainstream services going into such depths and strip away all the chaff to reveal what's going on.
This is an award-winning documentary.
Watching this video and my blood is just boiling with disgust at the audacity of this tyrant of a company. This needs to stop!
They threaten you with lawsuit if you share their response to you when you query the high bill.
There's a queue of tyrants ruling over us, including the Internet providers.
Thanks for shedding light on this. JPS need to be stopped, they're morally corrupt. How can they charge customers for something they didn't use? St. ELIZABETH was w/o light for almost a month and customers are getting these outrageous prices.
You have missed her point, that it’s bigger than JPS, but including other entities that own different parts of the operation
@@maxineadderley5378I don't think a point was missed. The consumption readings are inflated and actually false.
yah man the PSOJ and the government allows them to operate unchecked.
20% discount on bill uou have never used😂😂😂😂
There is no one to protect the people, they have been crying for years with no help.
Mighty God
Monopoly. Why is the glitch always in favour of the company?
This Lady, an independent journalist does better work than Gleaner, TVJ and CVM put together.
Mad respect 🫡
32:16 you are not "just a journalist" you are the only real journalist in Jamaica
Totally agree .
I said this before and was challenged on it. I did ask for someone to send me any article or video from a journalist in Jamaica with near to similar work. All the so called journalists are lazy poor shallow people who care very little about journalism. This has caused so much confusion in the country as to what is factual and what's fiction. Not one of them any good.
I endorsed everything that this lady is doing for us in Jamaica, I have been watching her videos and I must say as a Jamaican living in Jamaica, there are a lot of things I never known about Jamaica if it wasn't for here channel, her detail to things are accurate and easily understood, she is on par, the gleaner, observer and other Jamaican media cannot come close to her in giving us the information we needed, I am totally pleased of her and her wonderful work she is doing.
The Jamaican journalism is corrupt and lazy and cowards.
Jps is part own by government. Government has hand in tvj and cvm, so u won't get anything good from them.
25:38 Somebody give this lady a trophy 🏆🏆 please🎉
Agree
The Jamaica Public Service has been robbing Jamaicans for years! The OUR, in my opinion, is ineffective in regulating the power company. I don't trust the reading of meters that are stacked in a box high up on a JPS pole. Customers have no way of reading those meters. JPS needs more accountability and regulation.
Hardly
Take a look at their financial statements.
Excellent work Irie! It is shameful AND disgraceful that none in the Main Steam Media sought it fit to conduct such a thorough investigation. CVM, TVJ, Nationwide etc should be ASHAMED of themselves.. unless of course they are indeed more a part of the problem than we all know
They r
Remember, MSM is never ur friend . Private bloggers are more interested and faithful to their subscribers.
The real problem can be that the journalists who work for main stream media are not paid to do such work, so why would they waste 100+ hours of their time? I'm not paid either, as it's way too much work, while the financial returns are not enough to cover the costs, but because there are people who appreciate my work and many support me on patreon, I don't want to let them down and hence still keep this channel going and do my best to deliver quality. Journalists at MSM don't have such an incentive, unfortunately, and don't have the funds to do this work (their salary won't be enough to cover the cost of video production).
@@JAMAICAWITHIRIEthanks for your amazing work. We appreciate it. I look forward to the updates too.
This journalist production is of unprecedented quality for Jamaica, in my opinion. There are not sufficient words to commend your efforts.
I even understand why mainstream media is not yet doing this work. Perhaps they may follow up on your video, which is likely to go viral!
The Jamaicans so called journalists are all aligned to the pnp party..they only highlight things that make .Pnp look good and JLP look bad
Thank you for all your efforts. I have said it before and I will say it again, the citizens of Jamaica is indebted to you and will be for a very long time. Thanks for making Jamaica your home. We appreciate you. Love and respect 👍
Great work and we the people of Jamaica appreciate you more than you know.❤
Kudos Irina. Thanks for the hard work. You not only showed up the criminality of JPS and OUR but also the impotence of corporate media. Walk good.
We need you to teach investigative journalism. I was not only grateful for the findings but enjoying the art of journalism on full display. Thank you.
Me too, Im thinking about changing careers!!! I want to bring light to Jamaican issue as efficient as Irie!
Thanks for exposing these thieves even more. Jamaica need another source of electricity
Jamaica was born out of wickedness ,bribery and thieving. The curse of Port Royal is still with us
JPS has a No Compete Clause written in the contract when it was sold. So while we CAN go solar, not many people have the means to do this.
This is Jamaica we're talkin about, corrupt from top to bottom. If these meters can be manipulated, it's more likely than not that JPS manipulated them to their benefit. Every body is for sale in Jamaica, so not difficult pay off the regulators. If I were to move back there, my house would be 100% off grid. Excellent reporting, you're a gem
Jamaica is actually not as corrupt as people assume, it's a common misconception, but Jamaica is "in the middle", when it comes to corruption levels in the world. Also, corruption isn't needed when it comes to meters manipulations. This can be done without bribing anyone and without letting the Government or OUR know. 🤷♀Still, I think it was a technical error that caused meter issues, as if it was manipulated, at least they would have not sent the bills to people who they knew had no electricity supply, as such bills are basically exposing them.. But still, thank you so much for the support and glad if you've found the video useful.
@@JAMAICAWITHIRIE I appreciate your optimism but where on the corruption spectrum we sit, is of little value to the people it affects on a day to basis and the people who can least afford it. This particular incident may or may not be due to their maleficence, but they are for sure, tweaking some bills. An example is, Vybz Cartel mentioned a situation where his JPS bill was sharply increased, when his name was placed on the bill. JPS aside, I will argue that corruption in Jamaica is the number one thing that has stymie the progress of Jamaica. When you understand the amount of money that have been spent because of corruption, you'll get a true understanding of the magnitude of the situation, and why I I said what I said. I've been on the ground so to speak and have seen it and lived it. I understand world rankings and all of that, but that is no consolation when you see how much damage, the little corruption we have, have done. There is not one politician that is not corrupt, very few police are not corrupt at some level. Almost everyone will give or take a bribe to get things done. The more bloated the civil service gets, the more corruption you will get and we have a bloated one.Yes we have progressed, but not at the level or the rate that we are capable of, had it not been for the widespread corruption. Whatever you think you may know about corruption in Jamaica, trust me when I say, you have not even begin to scratch the surface. We should sit and have a conversation when I do visit, I'll introduce myself.
@@JAMAICAWITHIRIEAlways love how you respond. We tend to use words that are commonly said to define problems without full understanding and stating solutions. I am willing to put my money in a gofund me to pay for a lawyer who can represent the people in court to change the contract the Goverment signed with the owners of JPSCo. What is happening with JPSCo is deep and we need strong muscles to fight it.
@@JAMAICAWITHIRIEEasy Irie... You might need more time than 10 years here to truly understand.
@@seanmighty206 why?it's actually the other way around. The info about corruption cannot be obtained by living in a country. To understand what's really happening with the country - we need to look at the data thouroughly gathered by various agencies, then cross reference this data and compare it to all other countries in the world. People who live in the country would normally get this info wrong as they are influenced by personal experience, incorrect info they keep hearing from childhood and too much misinformation from the media and people around them. They become biased and think "they know", while in fact they never check any info they get. Basically, people need to live in a country to learn culture, language etc, but problems like corruption or crime - it's best to study in context.
The OUR and JPS should explain in Parliament. That would be a good start.
Thank you for investigating the JPS Bill increases. I was one of the consumers that sent by copies of jps bills to you. I also sent a complaint to the JPS. I received a reply informing me that my bills from May 2024 to August were Estimated. So that is the reason why I received such a large bill. I then asked that in the future can I get an actual reading. Jps replied saying they aim to provide actual readings, but there are times that an estimate has to be provided. Thank you so much for doing what you are doing for the people of Jamaica.
Thank you for sharing! Does it say on your bills that they are "Estimated". I'm looking at all the bills that have been sent to me, and most of them have "Actual", not "Estimated", that was a part of the problem.
my question to you is that, do you have a smart meter? if you do then how comes the smartness of such device was not applicable to you? 2nd, why your meter stop from working for so long and was not replace, 3rd why wasn't you inform from then.
Go back to all your bills and see how much the previous actual bill was after a series of estimates. I hey will try to explain everything away in a convoluted manner
Very Very Very good job Irie. Im concerned about your safety while you share this truth. Be happy and careful. The world needed to see this. Share share share guys to your international families and channels. Help Jamaicans get justice. I met you from afar in St.Elizabeth at the Black River Film Festival with Ava. I was the American Ambassador. It was a pleasure to see you just as delightful in person as pn t.V. One Love, be Blessed!
NWC should get the spotlight as well.
100%
Jamaica communities should join together and go solar off grid and boycott corrupted JPS that has never benefit Jamaica people fairly they are too greedy and without proper service to the Jamaica citizens.
not possible and reason i say that is that its not very effective when you need sun light 24 seven and that the solar panel come in different percent of solar absorption from 10% to 15% to 20% and up and thats why the panels are so expansive and the reason they made them that way is cuz the U.S.A FUCKING GOVERNMENT made a law for that then giving the panels 100% of their usage
Nope. They band together for Vybz Kartel
The smart meter was a smart idea for companies who installed them 😂😂
You deserve the Jamaican equivalent of a Pulitzer (it it exists) for this piece. Well done Irina!
aww, thank you :))))
Why so quick to praise a foreigner. When a local including yourself could have done the same research. All of the information is available for those who are interested in gathering and presenting. Sorry Irena no shade to you. You have done an excellent job as usual. My concern is the typical mindset of Jamaicans who sit back and wait for people who come from abroad to tell them about their own country when we are living in the Information Age. And instead of just thanking you they go on about that you should get an award or some government ministry should hire you or praise you. To me this kind of behaviour is a sure sign of an inferior complex. The inferior complex is the main problem and not JPS. As such all foreign companies know that they can get away with things in Jamaica that they can’t get away with in most countries
@@selvinlinton my comment has no bearing on her national origin. It seems like you have some unresolved internal conflict. Please don’t project that on me or Irina. The viewers have every right to commend her for the stellar journalism, as we would anyone else, whether they are Jamaican or not. Since all the information is available, perhaps you should take on a similar project so that some unsuspecting viewer can leave a comment extolling your work.
@@selvinlinton There are plenty of Jamaican born journalists who received a prize for their work and have been aknowledged. I've never seen a foreigner receiving one. The reason such investigation hasnt been done by other people (whether locals or foreigners), is because it requires 100+ hours of unpaid work and people dont like working for free. Such investigations also require a degree in engineering, otherwise you won't know the questions to ask to be able to find the information, even if it is available online. Journalists rarely have engineering degrees, hence the problem.
@@selvinlintonI actually wish all the information was as readily available as you suggest. Fact of the matter is that most lay persons don’t have the spare time, know how, or even device to do extensive research to find data that the owners of the data don’t necessarily want to be easily found.
And Irina is not the average foreigner in this regard…she is leveraging her particular educational training to fill a niche that should not exist in any civilized country with a respectable investigative news media. Given a choice, I would actually prefer not to have to turn to any vlogger’s report on national news. Perhaps one day the alternatives won’t be so few.
Jamaican need to sue the JPS
Don't think you can.
@@pondigroundof course we can definitely file a class action lawsuit against JPS and we should!!!
@toptenworldtravel I never know that but thanks for the information
Thanks for the clarity Irene. You have done a thorough investigation that is easy to understand. Howvever, am sure they are going to use your information to justify their actions. Continue to do what you do. JPS will win no matter what....God help us.
This is what important but jamaica rather watch kartel live than this.
Because those people dont pay for electricity.
😂😂😂😂
Bad priority for sure .
Can you blame them? There’s no reasoning with this government or JPS. I’d rather buy Kartel tickets than give JPS money they shouldn’t be getting.
U have a kartel issue but surprisingly bet u never kno kartel a 1 a d first entertainer dat hit out about jps pricing
Excellent journalism as usual Irena, well done 🇯🇲🇨🇦
Great investigative journalism Irena. Thank you so much.
Am living this nightmare for years and there is no one to talk to when u go to there office they told u have to pay what's on ur bill Mam and that's its thanks for this video I hope through this video our voice and cries may be heard
Irene, this is another brilliant piece of investigative journalism. 👏👏
Fantastic job Irie. Very detailed and valuable information.
Love this. A well researched and thorough report, the hallmark of Irina's video. Top quality reporting. I wish the Gleaner, TVJ, CVM, and the Jamaican Observer would research their stories as thoroughly.
Our people are too complacent and love to complain but do nothing about the issues. our people need to stand together and fight the cause.
Facts personally even the badman madman no use
Thanks for your analytical critique & useful suggestions. You’re a gem! Continue to provide useful & insightful content.
NWC needs to be scrutinised as to their practice of double billing - yes, issuing 2 different bills with different charges for the same period. One via email, the other by mail.
I just saw this and had to send it to my contacts. This is investigative journalism at its best. How is it that we are unaware of much of what is in this content? Thank you for the information.
Very well done! I wonder if they realized the huge increase, scratched their heads, and said, send the crazy bills anyway! I also wonder how many simply cannot pay and are going without? The whole thing is a disgrace. A $2M fine is almost incentive to keep screwing people.
This type of corporate greed needs proper investigation and punitive action if necessary, including forcing the sale of JPS. The compensation packages of the companies executives should also be scrutinized to determine whether these arbitrary increases in customers' bills have resulted in bonuses, pay increases, or stock options.
JPS high bills didn't only start since the hurricane they have been sending high bills over the years
yep, I mention this when talking about new meters installations in 2011, but it was the case before as well. I wonder what was happening when JPS was owned by the Government though, before 2001. Were the rates also very high and bad service? I could only find so far that the company was sold with a goal to improve service and bring the rates down, but looks like it didn't work.
Excellent video. Thanks for raising the issue. What really worries me is that the smart meters can’t be independently verified.
can you expand on this please?
That was a clumsy attempt at saying that a meter can’t be tested by using another meter and comparing their readings. From your video, I understood that smart meters could only be read remotely and didn’t actually display the readings. On reflection, I realize I must have been wrong, because such a situation would be intolerable.
Crossed the line they did ! No way vould our bills soar so high in one month😮
Great work... thank you very objective!
I've been in America since the end of July and the only thing I left plugged in at my house in Jamaica is my refrigerator. Tell me why I just got a 12 thousand dollar bill and I am still in America and no one is at my home.
Most likely in your case the reason is voltage fluctuations and power instability. Things you see in a form of "flickering lights". Generally, this does not cause an actual increase in electricity consumption, but this can cause the meter to misread or incorrectly record the electricity usage, leading to a higher bill, even if the actual consumption hasn't increased. Also.. if there was an outage for a few hours or even 5-10 mins, your fridge will need more electricity to "get cold" again. As a result, your consumption will increase. If you're not at the place, it's best to turn off the breaker completely, otherwise who knows what your bill might be like or worse - it might be a safety issue if case of surges.
I have a more simple, accurate explanation-Venal, corrupt, third rate scam company.
@@JAMAICAWITHIRIE Thanks for mentioning the possibilities of the $12k J bill in that month.
But Ms Irie, unplugging the refrigerator will cause a spoil in food.
This bill is just shy of $100 US which could be considered high when on vacation and not using the AC, etc
Same here n they sent me a 50k bill
Same for me. Left end of June and came back end of July and my bill for July is 45k and then 54k in Aug which are the amounts I pay usually when my entire family at home but all of us overseas and no one home
I honestly think that the OUR is in over its head, and is incapable of properly investigating the operations of these smart meters
Thank you so so much for your timely investigative work with JPS on the behalf of the Jamaica people. JPS is out of control and it's very hard on a lot of us. My May bill was 9k and change in May, my June bill went up to 14k so I went to them about it, and they kindly told me I used it so I paid it. In July my bill jumped to 24k i went back and they told me to get an Electrician to check the wires and the meter as water could be in it. I paid only 14.7k. In August my bill skyrocket to a whopping 60k plus. I have not done anything, different, I have not buy any new appliance for years, it's very frustration and pocket draining.. Something must be done to STOP JPS again. Thank you
Irie keep on going because when you speak Jamaican people are hearing you thank you and keep on shining ❤
Irina, this was brilliant investigative journalism!
Nicely done, VERY informative. I saw the spike in the bill (i'm in canada) but just paid it. Thanks to you i will now keep a watchful eye.
Government, OUR & JPS playing games
Excellent research. Plz send the findings to Minister Vaz and the OUR.
yep, will try to meet somebody at OUR later, let's see if they find some time for me.
@@JAMAICAWITHIRIEPlease investigate a court case JPSCO vs People of Jamaica that happened some years ago. Your findings will show JPSCo will always make a profit.
Thank you for this comprehensive expose! It has been my ongoing struggle with JPS, for over 2 years now, for my home's monthly electrical consumption. Repeated letters, calls, independent electrical contractors analysis, has only resulted in their stock boilerplate responses. I have experienced dramatic monthly variation in the JPS reported electrical consumption and have long concluded that problem ls largely in the faulty and inaccurate wireless meters.
Another stellar docu Irina! Well done 🎉
Excellent job, Irina...as usual❤
The government should subsidize solar, however, make it needs base
Jamaica people have money for it?
All solar related equipment is duty and GCT free.
@@michaelc821 You can buy your own solar equipment and build it yourself for much cheaper. Khemlani Mart sells solar powered fans for $19K
@@lawrencedavidson6195 They need to do more, real subsidizing
I received an email from JPS just this week where JPS informed me we are also paying 40% of our bills for people thieving light! That f… up my head when they said that because how is possible people stealing light and we are paying for their theft?
Maybe you should just join the ones stealing and get free light why hurt your head when there’s a way out 😂😂😂😂😂
JPS informed you that 40% of your bill is paying for people stealing the electricity? Can you please forward this letter to me jamaicawithirie@gmail.com please? It's important, because JPS has never admitted to doing so as it's actually illegal and they are not allowed to directly charge their customers for electricity theft done by others. So, it's either you misunderstood their letter or you can directly take them to court.
@@JAMAICAWITHIRIE yep this is absolutely true. And we have a neighbor on one side that steals power, and squatters behind us brazen enough to build concrete houses on stolen land, they opened a bodega on residential land, plus those jackasses steal power and water, and they are dumb enough to burn plastic in their firepits. Most of our power use is covered by solar so no crazy bills.
@@ecksearoh6283 WOW😏😏
@@ecksearoh6283 bet no one reports the thieves, nor should they have to. I recall years ago in the US when cable TV theft was actually very high, until supposedly after then cable companies found a way to send an electronic “bullet” back through the cable line to unauthorized devices. Whatever the solution was, you rarely hear of cable theft anymore, at least not in previously popular areas.
I Learned Alot Tonight... Very Profound Indept of A Very Important Topic...
Jps.is always been a problem in Jamaica and the government doing nothing about it why
I think they are pocketing from the company as well thats why they have not been penalized over the many years
blessings and greetings this video is very informative
You are an amazing voice for Jamaica!!!! Thanks for your info.
Excellent work we needed this!
Very good research we cant rule out the possibility of error with smart meters. Many persons without power got the same or higher usage.
@@barushka4698 what are the chances of getting an explanation for how persons without power still got a bill?
Great job Irie...please continue to look out for the Jamaican people behalf.
Very very very informative n a great video.
Irena you are the bomb. Thanks for explaining it so That everyone can understand.
Thanks much for your concern about Jamaicans ❤❤❤❤
An excellent presentation.
I learned so much.
Great presentation. I learn so much.,greatly appreciated ❤
Why are not on TV yet!? 😊excellent excellent work 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
Thank you for the support! 🙏To answer your question: I'm not sure TV would want me, as I don't fit any format.
Don't know if you have a video on flow .thanks for the info great job
Excellent research and reporting. I hope our journalists are taking notes.
The government should buy back those shares and sell them to Jamaican citizens.
yes, but how will this solve the problem of meters malfunctioning and costs to produce electricity being too high?
@@JAMAICAWITHIRIE we can’t know the answer to that question due to the most salient pieces of information, that I presume was not available to you, so was not included in this report. You mentioned the profit JPS made last year, but we don’t know the true and complete cost being incurred by JPS to get each kw of power to a consumer, COMPARED to other electricity providers elsewhere who are buying electricity at similar rates as JPS does.
I have heard that their power stations and equipment is woefully inefficient. And if that is true, they still have no incentive to invest in new equipment or improvements, IF they are at liberty to just keep passing along 100% of that waste to Jamaican consumers.
@@faithm2535 we actually know the true and complete cost being incurred by JPS to get each kw of power to consumer. We also know that they invest about 60-80 million usd into JPS each year. We also know that they lose from 25 to 35 million USD each year due to electricity theft. This information is available in their Annual reports that includes all the details of their financials, these are very thorough financial reports. Because JPS is a regulated company, they have to go through the financial audit that is then made public, so we know everything they have to pay and how much they earn. However, it's not the profit the owners are mainly interested in, not even the dividends, but the ROI, ROA and ROE (return on investment, return on assets and return on equity). Roughly, the investors want to pay 500 million for JPS shares and then sell these same shares for 1 billion claiming the increase in value. That's something what Mirant did. When they were in big trouble in 2001 due to energy market crisis, they invested in JPS and then in just 6 years they got out by almost doubling their $ returns, regardless the fact that JPS, as a company, didn't make much profit. This is also why Marubeni (the current owner), first bought 80% of the shares in 2007, then sold 40% to UAE company, then bought them again and then sold 40% to EWP (Koreans).
Anyway, it's complicated, that's why I didn't go into these details in the video and left it for later, when doing a full documentary on JPS.
@@faithm2535 also I noticed you highlighted the "compared to" other electricity providers elsewhere - well, other providers have other conditions for sure. Some of them have to pay much higher (!) taxes than JPS pays, some have much cheaper fuel access etc. However, all utility companies operate similarly in terms of their strategy to earn from this product, how to lower costs and increase returns.
Even if the company is owned by Jamaican people (aka becomes a public company), the problem will remain, as effective management would still have to ensure the company is profitable, otherwise it will be a collapse or will have to rely on the help from the government, which means on taxes, which means... again the money we, as consumers, pay.
@@JAMAICAWITHIRIE I was pleasantly surprised to find their annual report online, tho even just skimming, I was have only gotten through about half of the 156 pages of mostly non crucial info, and not the specifics that I am looking for on two main things…what specific, tangible investments did they make to improve efficiency in the delivery of electricity, and what if any actions did they take to reduce electricity theft? Audits that only check if the reported math adds up is almost as useless as historical accountability on the quality and cost for road construction in Ja. The public deserves to know what if any actual steps are being taken to mitigate JPS’s cost, versus possibly use of fancy math or even tricky meter readings to pass along unfair costs back to paying consumers.
Never disappointed. Well researched and brilliantly presented. (A wha dis? 38:17 cracked me up)
Cracked me up yoo. LOVED it as well
Irie, your documentary is of a very high quality as usual. Its clear JPS needs some competition, to sort them out. Just plain corruption, and it would appears that the piwers that be who are in charge of the country is drinking out of the same saucer. My spirit is tired of the antics of those people.
Well done Irie. BRILLANT JOB!
Thanx for your awesome work Irina. You are a treasure to Jamaicans!
Not the “How come?” reference 😂😂😂, big up Irina with the well researched information as per usual
Watching this investigative journalism and the quality of delivery, highlights clearly the low standard of mainstream media in Jamaica, as a Jamaican, I am very much ashamed. While I appreciate the quality of this ladies work, the importance of this quality journalism, this also highlight the fact that our media houses in Jamaica really needs to do better. The quality of work by many organizations in Jamaica, including our tertiary institutions is the primary reason why, most Jamaican educational qualifications as to be validated and some cases, rendered useless by most developed countries. As a people, as a country, as a ethnic group, we must do better. Wonderful work by the author, shame on the mainstream media houses in Jamaica.
Thank you for taking the time to create this informative video. ❤
Kudos @JAMAICAWITHIRIE
I appreciate your in-depth research on videos like these. I would love to see you do a video on the NWC as well.
They need to investigate jps, and give the people of jamaica alternatives to electricity. Jps is abusing the people of jamaica.
You have many alternatives, lots of solar companies around plus DIY videos on youtube. NHT gives cheap loans to install solar.
@@lawrencedavidson6195so you listen all that and still learn nothing..wow..smh….
@@MrKwrig15 I'm 90% offgrid with my DIY solar power system. That's my alternative power. You should listen and try to learn something sir.
@@lawrencedavidson6195 are you connected to the jps grid?
This is exceptional work. Thank you. Feel empowered and informed to act on my situation. Thank you very much
Great work as usual . I hope this makes it onto platforms with a larger audience. Shorts and clips from this video could be useful for that.
Hi sister good morning thank you very much this is a very good job 👍🇯🇲 you have done 👍🇯🇲👍
Thank You! Thanks for the insight. Never realized some of these things..
I have solar installed at my home and it tells me how much KWH that i consume every month (using SOLARK Inverter). For the last 3 months, the consumption shown on the solar installation matches with the jps bills. But for the july and august bills, the jps consumption values are 30% more than what the solar installation shows. This alone proves to me that JPS over charging customers to compensate for the expenses of huricane beryl. The government needs to put a stop to this immediately. Many of the solar companies in jamaica knows this as i have spoken to a many of them and they have confirmed that same issues as i have experienced.
This is some solid evidence. If you can share this data from SOLARK with me via email, I would really appreciate, as I can present it to OUR when I'll be seeing them for further push. 🙏 My email is jamaicawithirie@gmail.com
@@JAMAICAWITHIRIE will send this before the week is out
Thank you for this information, very informative
big up!! great work, i hope this will be have a effect to jps
EXCELLENT reporting! Thank you 🙏🏾
They need to break up this monopoly system 😤... I don't get it!! Jamaica needs to get another electricity company
I talk about this in the video at 7:31 It's not possible to break up the monopoly (there are 3 other electricity production companies in Jamaica, but it doesn't help)
Yes whenever people has competition they perform better
Thank you for what you are doing
Great info. I was thinking about the funding/aid JPS would receive and you answered that question.
It’s so disheartening that JPS answered fuel surcharges was the issue instead of admitting a problem they would look into and resolve. Now they are 100% untrustworthy. Anyone in St E, Mandeville etc with no power for weeks should have their bills wiped out completely. 😤
I am in St Catherine and I suffered only minor power disruption during the hurricane. However, I too received an August bill based on an 'actual' reading which reflects usage higher than this house has ever used before. There has been no change in the appliances or usage pattern between July and August.
Ja Irie you're an absolute star!!! I'll leave it at that for now. JPS beggars belief!!!
This video should get many awards. Thanks for exposing both the JPS and OUR incompetence. As far back when I lived in Jamaica, JPS has always been a parasite company sucking the lifeblood out of Jamaicans’ hard earned money. There should be tighter regulation of them.
Great job getting all this information, the people really and truely appreciate it, thank you
Brilliantly done , thanks for breaking this down.
Thank you for this. We have bought a home in Jamaica, and this is the company I fear the most. As they're a monopoly, they're notorious for ripping people off. The govt and OUR turn a blind eye!
I also live in St. Elizabeth. My bill is almost the same as the previous month. I got a bill for july and another for August to be paid in September by the 10th . This is after not having a supply for over 6 weeks.
Thank you for a detailed explanation and course of action.
Thanks, Irene, for enlightening the Jamaicans on how JPS operates.