It seems as if the JPS Black Friday didn’t have any impact.
Check this article: http://www.jis.gov.jm/news/111-leads/29071
Full text of JIS article below:
OUR Says JPS Digital Meters Are Accurate
Monday, 24 October 2011 09:35
KINGSTON — The Office of Utilities Regulation’s (OUR) Independent Investigator, J. Paul Morgan, says that the Jamaica Public Service’s (JPS) new digital meters are accurate.
Speaking at a press conference at the OUR, New Kingston on Friday (October 21), on the findings of his investigations into the JPS billing and metering system, Mr. Morgan noted that no evidence was found “to suggest, or even substantiate, any claims” that the electronic meters being installed by JPS are “inaccurate or faulty”.
Mr. Morgan, a former Director General of the OUR, was appointed by the agency in September to carry out the investigations, following widespread complaints from customers about high JPS bills.
He told the press conference that the complaints were made “concomitantly” with an ongoing programme of replacing old electromechanical meters with new electronic meters, leading to a connection being made that the high bills were, somehow, linked to the changes in the metering technology.
Independent Investigator into the Jamaica Public Service’s (JPS) billing and metering system, J. Paul Morgan (right), speaking on his findings at a press conference at the Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR), New Kingston, on Friday (October 21). Seated beside Mr. Morgan is OUR Director of Consumer and Public Affairs, Michael Bryce.
The Independent Investigator said that much time was spent looking at the accuracy of the new electronic meters being installed, including extensive research on experiences from other jurisdictions.
“What is interesting, in just about all of the jurisdictions that have gone through this change in metering technology, is that the same sort of complaints arose. The conclusion in those jurisdictions is that the electronic meters are fine; they are just more accurate than the electromechanical version,” he explained.
Mr. Morgan also stated that a sample of the electronic meters was tested in the field, and digital meters already installed were taken out and tested.
“There were some locations where we actually took out the electromechanical meters, tested those on site, replaced them with newly tested electronic meters, and the electronic meters that we have tested all passed with flying colours,” he said.
He also pointed out that a total of 40 electronic and electromechanical meters were bench tested in the field. However, of the electromechanical meters removed from the field, four out of 24 of them, or about 17 per cent, failed the accuracy tests.
“Statistics that have come out of studies of the industry is that we can expect, in these kinds of circumstances, that about 2.5 per cent of accounts where meters have been changed, there will be some issues associated with the meters themselves. Looking at the reality on the ground here in Jamaica, in terms of what’s been happening, we have come to the conclusion that we can expect about 18 per cent of the meters of the locations where meters have been changed, that there is going to be some problem associated with those accounts,” he said.
Mr. Morgan noted that of 17,000 meters to be changed out under the JPS programme, it can be expected that problems will arise with about 3,000. The problem could be due to the new meter over-recording, while the old (electromechanical) meter was under-recording.
“The evidence shows that as the electromechanical meters remain in service, after a period, the accuracy tends to…get worse and you can expect after about 15 years or so, that the accuracy will actually fall off very rapidly,” he said.
“The fact is, that JPS is changing out meters that were installed in 1995 and earlier, so you can expect a very high percentage of these meters to have been inaccurate, in the first place, and I think that what we are seeing is a high incidence of that particular event,” he added.
He pointed out that illegitimate connection and meter tampering also contributed to the problems associated with the metering system.
“We found an alarmingly high trend, and too many circumstances of actual physical evidence of meter tampering and other illicit activities of that type. The extent of meter-tampering is probably more widespread on the JPS system than we would even have imagined,” he stressed.
Turning to the issue of back billing, Mr. Morgan said it was found that the company has been operating in line with its policies. He noted, however, that those are policies which were agreed with the OUR some 10 years ago and, in current circumstances, “are now passé and they do need review.”
He noted, as well, that the JPS’ billing system “works fine” except for the process involved in the company’s exception report, which it issues if a bill is produced, which is a plus or minus 30 per cent of the average over the previous three months of billing.
The investigations, which cost the OUR $3.6 million, set out to assess: the legitimacy of the high consumption billing complaints, as a consequence of the replacement of old meters with new digital meters; the legitimacy of the high consumption billing complaints against JPS; and the appropriateness of JPS’ current back billing policies and procedures.
The probe also sought to assess: JPS current meter inspection and audit practices and procedures; the extent to which the billing practices are in compliance with existing quality control procedures (including meter reading and exceptions processing) and directives; and the extent to which the design of the quality control measures (including meter reading and exceptions processing) reliably and consistently identifies and treat with legitimate/genuine billing anomalies.
The data analysed included some 60,163 accounts, for which new digital meters have been changed since 2008; 20,500 records of high billings that reflected accounts’ consumption of plus or minus 30 per cent above the average; and 22,000 records of complaints that have been the subject of back billing adjustments since January 2010.
The report also made recommendations dealing with legal and regulatory frameworks; tariff regime; customer service; billing; metering; and metering protocol.
By Alecia Smith, JIS Reporter
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