JPS rates increasing 10%

[Accompong]

For the average household consumer, JPS bills can be very burdensome. And with the number of illegal connections, which there are still many (about 10,000 illegal connections were stopped in Kingston in February alone) raise the JPS rates for everyone. Stopping the illegal connections is helping to offset some of the proposed rate increases. Getting more people paying for their usage is spreading the cost over a larger base - thus lowering the costs per person.

Rob,
I have certainly witnessed this in Accompong Town. Although there was some current 20 some years ago, there was no reliable current until about 5 years ago. At that time I would estimate only 45-50% of the people using electricity, were paying for it. Now, less than 5% are still using "bridges" and enforcement is getting better at catching those who still practice it.

Even with the remoteness of Accompong Town, the current is on nearly all the time now and the "browning down" effect that was common and caused electrical appliances to go bad is rare to almost non-existent.

I think that JPS has a hard job stopping all the illegal connections but they are putting a lot of effort into stopping what they can.

Peace and Guidance

[541lion]

The way I see it is the better the exchange rate the more money iam likely to bring and spend.. On this trip we are bringing a lot more money than we need.. But I want lots of wood carvings for gifts and for my own home.. I want a kete drum to bring back.. Other art for the house.. I want fruit from the vendors.. I want patties from patty man.. I want cheap jewellery for the girls at home... I need to buy clothes cuz we are packing mostly stuff to give away to the youths.. Yeah I know I want a lot but iam American that's what we do..


Point is iam gonna spending my money with the locals and I know my money will help out some.. Ohh yeah I need a huge bag of subs too.. So yeah, I've been saving a lot from my paychecks along with taking my tax returns..

But I understand the government adding taxes and who it affects the most.. Respect!!

[ohliz]

When I was in Treasure Beach last month, we rented an entire small hotel at a much lower rate than is normally charged, but agreed to pay the electric bill separately.

We were very conscious of our energy use as a result (no one was leaving the AC on when not in the room, or using it all for the most part as we had terrific ceiling fans and good ventilation), and our bill was much lower than anticipated.

I wonder if more and more hotels will move toward charging for AC or electric specifically.

[bjritz]

Is there much use of solar panels in Jamaica?