14,000 JPS customers affected by power outages amid heavy rains

Source: Jamaica Gleaner

The Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) is reporting that approximately 14,000 of its customers have been impacted by power outages as a result of severe weather conditions affecting the island.

Those affected account for two per cent of the power company's customer base.

In a media release on Friday, JPS said that landslides, downed trees and broken power lines are behind the outages.

It said that the majority of customers impacted are in Kingston and rural St Andrew.

JPS said some restoration efforts are being hampered by the current conditions and by lack of access.

It said its crews are especially unable to do restoration work in Mavis Bank, St Andrew, due to a landslide, which has cut off access.

A total of 1,200 customers are out of power in that community.

"Based on meteorological reports, conditions across the island are expected to worsen later today or early tomorrow, with high probability of more flooding and landslides," JPS said in the media release.

"These circumstances may also affect aspects of the electricity network. Teams will continue to remain alert and will take restorative action as quickly as safety factors allow, so that customers can be restored in the shortest time possible," it added.

In the meantime, the company is advising persons to stay away from broken power lines and unsafe locations.

The JPS said outage reports can be made via the JPS Mobile App, or to the JPS Customer Care Centre at 888-225-5577 (Flow) or 888-935-5577 (Digicel).