The Jamaica Public Service (JPS) has started a move in Portmore to increase the number of 'legal' customers on its grid.

According to JPS's parish manager for Portmore, Cecile McCormack, the move is to regularise those customers who do not have a meter but are abstracting electricity from the light and power company.

"One of the mandates of our management team, led by our president, Kelly Tomblin, is to get back our customers, supported, of course, by a demonstration of care," she said. "In pursuit of this, the Portmore team has been working through the (Portmore) Municipal Council, the councillors, as well as the citizens' associations, to get persons back on the grid."

McCormack was speaking at a community forum during the 10th anniversary of the Portmore Municipal Council recently.

She explained that this was being done through a partnership in which the JPS works with its customers who demonstrate their commitment through an initial deposit, followed by the establishment of a payment plan.

extended offer

She admitted that this bold step has already borne fruit. "We have seen an increase in the number of persons who have taken up the offer and continue to extend an invitation to Portmore to visit us not only to regularise, but also to benefit from the extended offer," she said. "We have spent time to educate as well on issues of conservation as well as understanding the cost of electricity. One of the simple facts not known by many is that where there is no meter and there is light, the supply is an illegal one."

McCormack also noted that there have been instances where persons who have been extracting light from her company by illegal means have come on-board. "We have seen, for example, one sports group regularise their supply after months of paying fees for illegally connected lights on the field to be 'turned on' each night," she revealed.

She said it is for that very reason her company would continue its strategy to bring in more legally connected customers on her company's grid.

Electricity theft has cost the JPS millions of dollars each year and the company has used various means to disconnect and prosecute persons who have been found guilty of the act.