WESTERN BUREAU:

A large company in Montego Bay, St James, is the most recent business to be caught with illegal connections to the Jamaica Public Service Company's (JPS) distribution lines.

It has since been deemed that the company owes $50 million for the electricity used.

JPS has confirmed that, in February, representatives of its Loss Reduction Team discovered a direct connection to JPS lines at the location during an investigation.

Will not disclose details

While the light and power company says it does not disclose details of customers' accounts to the public, The Gleaner understands that the company in question is the National Asset Recovery Services (NARS), which operates from the Montego Freeport area.

"We are not issuing a statement," executive assistant at NARS, Angelita Whyte, told this newspaper when queries were made into the matter.

According to Winsome Callum, corporate communications manager at JPS, the Montego Bay police were alerted to the discovery of illegal abstraction of electricity at the location, and that the company "will be taking steps to recover for the electricity used illegally at the premises".

NARS's contact centre began operations in Jamaica on June 9, 2003, and employs more than 800 persons.

According to its website, the company is based in St Louis, Missouri, in the United States, and from its contact centres in the United States, the Caribbean and Latin America, NARS offers default, customer care and electronic services to major financial, consumer and service companies.

A release issued by JPS states that it continues an aggressive campaign to reduce electricity theft among both residential customers and businesses.