POWER PREDATORS
• Customers urged to expose ‘contractors’ demanding payment to reconnect electricity• Energy minister, JPS CEO maintaining zero tolerance approach to illegal ‘throw-ups’
Published:Saturday | January 10, 2026 | 12:09 AMMickalia Kington/Gleaner Writer
Western Bureau:
The Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) Ltd and the Government are reiterating a zero-tolerance stance against individuals demanding money from residents for electricity reconnections in the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa, following complaints from communities in Westmoreland.
Residents have reported that individuals claiming to be JPS contractors have been approaching them and requesting payments to restore electricity, a practice that has left many fearful of reporting the matter.
Addressing the issue, JPS President and CEO Hugh Grant told The Gleaner that the company has made it clear that no payment should be required for reconnection.
“We here at JPS, we have zero tolerance for that type of behaviour. No one should be charging anyone, not even a dollar, to be reconnected,” said Grant.
Grant further explained that, while the company is aware of the allegations, investigations are often hampered by residents’ reluctance to formally report incidents.
“The challenge is, every time we get a report and we try to have a lead so that we can have some level of accountability, folks are hesitant in making those necessary reports,” he noted.
In response to the allegations, JPS has intensified its public education and enforcement efforts, working closely with community leaders and law enforcement.
INFORMING PUBLIC
“We have (spoken with) the councillors, we have also mobilised town criers in the area to inform people that they should not be paying to receive power. We have sent out text messages to our customers and we have also mobilised our own internal security folks to do some undercover operations to put a stop to this travesty,” Grant said.
He indicated that the reports of the illicit practice are particularly troubling given the hardship residents are already facing in the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa.
“It breaks my heart every time I hear that, whereby during these times of disaster, folks are looking to take advantage of people,” he said. “And we need to put a stop to it right now, and we’re committed to doing all that we can with the local law enforcement to put a stop to it.”
Meanwhile, Winsome Callum, director of communications at JPS, also disclosed that the light and power company has established a WhatsApp line to allow residents to submit photos and information anonymously.
“We have provided a WhatsApp number, so people can take pictures, people can send in information by this WhatsApp number, and we’re pushing that on radio as well as on our social media platforms,” she said.
Callum however noted that actionable reports remain limited.
“We have not been getting a lot of reports that we can work on, that we can act on, so we are appealing and repeating our appeal to persons to use this WhatsApp number,” she said.
Despite the challenges, she confirmed that enforcement action has already been taken in at least one case.
“We have had one arrest since Melissa that I am aware of, where persons were illegally connecting and asking for money,” she said.
Energy Minister Daryl Vaz said the Government was in full support of JPS’s position and was equally firm in its own response.
“Zero tolerance,” Vaz told The Gleaner, saying that illegal connections are not only exploitative but are also causing disruptions to restored electricity supply in some communities.
“There has been reports that have come to me where communities that have gotten back light, have had their lights interfered with because of illegal connections,” said Vaz. “So, while the JPS is connecting communities, the illegal activity of the ‘throw-ups’ continues.”
The practice of ‘throwing up’ involves illegally throwing electrical wires onto JPS power lines to access electricity without authorisation, often overloading the system and causing outages.
Vaz said he has made it clear to JPS that such actions cannot be allowed to continue.
“I’ve said to JPS, zero tolerance because persons who have been without light, who pay their light bill, must get back light in the shortest possible time and nothing must go in the way of that.”
ILLEGAL CONNECTIONS
Vaz also noted that illegal connections are also contributing to new outages.
“There are several areas that, once the light comes back, there are throw-ups which is causing outages because of the transformers,” said Vaz, noting that residents whose homes were damaged during the hurricane have no reason to resort to illegal connections.
“We are in communities doing rewiring of houses… free of cost. So there should be no reason why people will want to do throw-ups now rather than formalise themselves when it is of no cost to them,” he said.
Both the JPS and the Government are urging residents to report any suspicious activity, assuring them that strict action will be taken against anyone attempting to profit from the disaster recovery process.
The utility company continues to encourage customers to make a formal report if they are approached by an individual for payment for connection of their power.
To report these individuals, customers are encouraged to send a message via SMS or WhatsApp to 876-499-2061 including, if possible, a photo of the culprit’s vehicle and licence plate number.
Customers are also encouraged to make a report at the nearest police station.