Athaliah Reynolds, Staff Reporter

Downed utility poles and lines block Slipe Road, in the vicinity of Carib 5 cinema, after the outer bands of Hurricane Dean thumped southern sections of the island, on Sunday. - Norman Grindley/Deputy Chief Photographer

The Jamaica Public Service Co. Ltd. (JPS) yesterday said it was unable to give an estimate of damage sustained by its electricity generation system as a result of hurricane Dean, which hit the island Sunday.

The company said after completing its damage assessment on Tuesday, it was found that the damage to its transmission system in some areas - namely the parishes of St. Catherine, Clarendon, Manchester, St. Elizabeth, St. Thomas and Portland - was far greater than the damage that was caused by Hurricane Ivan in 2004.

Winsome Callum, head of corporate communications at the JPS, told The Gleaner yesterday that customers will not be asked to pay for the damage to the company's system, as in Hurricane Ivan, as the JPS' self-insurance fund would be used to cover costs.

"The fund now has approximately US$7 million (J$490 million), which we hope will cover the cost of the damage caused by Dean. The OUR [Office of Utilities Regulation] will make a determination on how this is handled," said Ms. Callum.

As of yesterday afternoon the JPS said it had restored electricity to over 40 per cent of its customers.

Main challenges

It said the main challenges faced in restoring power to its customers were incidents of theft where "persons [were] stealing lines and transformers from the system".

It also said accessing some areas was difficult, as roads were rendered impassable by debris, the damage to the power system was extensive and violence was a major hindrance in some communities.

Despite these challenges, the JPS said it hoped to continue its earlier aim to have electricity restored to a majority of its customers by the end of this week.

The company said yesterday in a release that by Sunday, electricity would be restored to most areas in the parishes of Kingston and St. Andrew, St. Catherine, St. James, Westmoreland, Hanover, Trelawny and St. Ann.

The JPS said it expected to have power restored to most customers in St. Thomas, Portland and St. Mary by the end of next week.

It cautioned that it could however take weeks before there was complete restoration in the parishes of Clarendon, Manchester, and St. Elizabeth because of the extent of the damage to its transmission network in these areas.

athaliah.reynolds@gleanerjm.com