No JPS! NO!!!

Thursday, March 4, 2010

No, is exactly what the Office of Utility Regulations (OUR) told the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) when they attempted once again to extort money from the Jamaican public. Once again JPS attempted a brazen attempt of high way robbery when it applied to the OUR for it's latest increase in its utility charges. The JPS applied for an increase to recover over four billion dollars from it's already burdened customers!

According to The Jamaica Gleaner, the JPS proposed that its customers pay a $4.2 billion dollars over a two year period by adding 6.75  cents per kilowatt hour to their existing high charges. This $4.2 billion dollars is not to improve it's service to customers or to make them more efficient, but to recover money payed out to its employees in a reclassification exercise that was completed in 2002. Now if this is not an outright plot of the JPS to rob Jamaican people I don't know what else is! Can you believe the audacity of this company to come up with a scheme like this, after the stunt they pulled off with the hurricane Ivan and Dean rip off and their recent rate increase?

Fortunately, the OUR  had the balls this time to tell them no, sparing the Jamaican consumers from outright robbery! The Jamaica Gleaner, reports that the OUR said that "the company's claim did not qualify under the z-factor provision, since the costs incurred were as a consequence of managerial decisions, as the JPS had agreed with the labour unions in 2000 to embark on the reclassification exercise." So JPS want us, the consumer, to pay for a management decision made between it, it's employees and their unions, next thing the will want to request a special increase for bonuses to their execs. Thank you OUR for standing up for the Jamaican consumers by telling the JPS no to their latest attempt of robbery! How is it that JPS is always plotting ways to extort more and more money from its customers? How come JPS? How come?

Source: http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20100304/lead/lead2.html

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More Increases, More Hardship!

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Once again, the hardship of the Jamaican people has increased. The Government recently tables its supplementary budget in Parliament and increased hardship was on the platter. The government has hiked the taxes on telephone calls, cards and instruments from the already high twenty percent (20%) to a whopping twenty five percent (25%). So now you will pay a quarter of the price of a call, phone card or instrument, plus the stipulated cost each time your take up that phone to make call, buy a phone card or purchase a new phone. Whoever said talk is cheap certainly didn't live or visit Jamaica! However the increase didn't stop there!

If you are thinking of traveling overseas any time soon you will be required to fork out some more money coupled with the already ridiculously high airfares. Why? The government has also chosen to increase the departure tax by a whopping eighty percent(80%)! So now instead of paying the regular JM$1000 for departure tax you will now be required to fork out an extra JM$800 to pay the new fee of JM$1800each time you purchase a ticket to travel. This government never fails to surprise as yesterday when they announced the increases they pulled a fast one and announced that these increases would be effective today, Thursday October1, 2009! Surprise!

However, the government wasn't all about increases as they announced that they will indeed be cutting something! What would cause the government to deviate from their trend of increasing? The government confirmed the fears of many public servants on Wednesday when they announced that they will be cutting the number of people employed to the public sector. Up to earlier this week the Labour Minister, Pernell Charles, stated that as far as he knows the Prime Minister would not be cutting jobs in the public sector, but the Prime Minister sang a different tune on Wednesday! No time-line has been given for this cut, but many speculate that it will be soon, with the IMF deal in sight. So once again the already high unemployment figure in Jamaica will increase.

The only good announcement that came from this supplementary budget was that the Cabinet was not immune from the public sector job cut and that the government will be seeking to cut down on the red tape and gymnastics required to start businesses. But even with this gleam of light the days ahead grow even darker and hardship will only increase for the average Jamaican.

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Everybody Going with the Flow?

Monday, September 28, 2009

The line at Flow's Pavilion Office in Half Way Tree

I received my LIME bill and realized that it had doubled since my last bill and I have not increases my usage nor have I added any new service! How could have my bill doubled just like that? Then I remembered that i no longer have the concession LIME staff normally enjoyed and as such I am now just a regular paying customer. With my unemployed status in mind and this sudden increase in my bill I have decided to go with the Flow in a bid to save money via their bundled service as well as their promotion that they are currently having. I called Flow and spoke to a nice agent who gave me the prices and was more than willing to sign me up. However, I wanted to go to the store to ensure there was no trick and to do my subscription there for their services. Big mistake!

So this afternoon I went to the Flow office located at the Pavilion mall. When I parked in the parking lot the security came to hand me the parking ticket, when she paused and asked me which store I was visiting in the mall. So I told her Flow. Without hesitation she said. "Mi nauh guh even badda give yuh nuh ticket cause in deh ram-up". Right then and there disappointment set in as I hate lines and hate waiting! I decided to go there just out of curiosity, maybe she was just exaggerating. I should have listened, as I totally wasted my time and energy walking up to the store. the line was so long that it was all the way outside the store!

I decided, well the New Kingston office should be better, and so I drove down to the New Kingston Office. this again was another waste of time and gas, even though the line was inside, it was like an overgrown anaconda stuffed in a little box! After taking a number as the security reassured me that I should take a number to speak to an agent as the line was for other transactions. i waited over half hour in the store as I watched the number slowly incremented closer to my number, but was still had a long way to go. It seems everybody has opted to switch to flow or had inadvertently become Flow customers!

I think I might create an account via their contact centre tonight and go in early tomorrow and pay for the subscription to their service. If I sign up to Flow, I will be cutting my LIME Internet, Netspeak and maybe the landline, as well as cutting my Logic One cable service to consolidate them to one bill. This would reduce my bill by JM$1000 to JM$2000, and coupled with their promotions I would be saving quite a few thousands for the next three months!

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Doomed - $5000, JPS Hike!!!

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Our fate has been sealed today, September 24, 2009, the average Jamaican has been plunged into further hardship. The Office of Utility Regulations (OUR), for weeks has had our fate in the palm of their hands, as the deliberated in giving the Jamaica Public Service (JPS) the hike the deviously conceived and presented in earnest. Today was D-day, as the OUR was to say whether or not it would be granting the JPS the hike they have been eagerly awaiting and once again the customer's worse fear was realized!

The OUR has granted the JPS an increase on the non-fuel charge of the electricity bill, though the increase is not the ridiculous 23 percent average JPS was asking for, it is still a significant increase. The JPS received a 13 3 percent average increase in non-fuel charge of their monthly bills, which is still a huge increase in these harsh economic times. This 13 3 percent average increase in the non-fuel part of the electricity bill, is further compounded by the ever increasing fuel-part of the bill, which increased even up to this month! I dread the thought of what my next light bill will look like, because even with my attempts of conservation, I still see a bill coming up to several thousands. JPS is sticking true to their motto, "Changing lives with our energy", because they are certainly making our lives harder and making us poorer!

To coincide with this hike in the electricity bill, or maybe just coincidence, the Bank of Jamaica (BoJ) has commenced the circulation of the new Jamaican Five Thousand Dollar note (JM$5000). This is just perfect timing with the OUR grant of an increase to JPS, as we certainly will be forking out much more money to pay our bills. No doubt this increase granted to JPS, will shortly start to trick down into other utility bills: telephone, cellphone, cable, water, etc and will even start to translate into other goods and services. At least when people go to pay their bills instead of forking out several Thousand Dollar bills (JM$1000), they will be forking out less paper with this new JM$5000 bill. Now we can cover more bills with less notes. that's they only good way of looking at it, if there is at all any good way to look at it!

This hike in electricity bill and the new JM$5000 note further highlights the plight of the average Jamaican people and gives a dim picture of the overall economic health... or ill-health of the country. Dark and gloomy days lay ahead, we can't stop it, we just have to learn how to survive as much as possible. With this in mind, and my current unemployed status, I now have to reevaluate my energy conservation and see where can further cut back on my energy consumption to stay afloat in this turbulent economic stormy waters.

Source: http://go-jamaica.com/news/read_article.php?id=12847, http://go-jamaica.com/news/read_article.php?id=12851

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As the Dough Rises

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Once again Jamaica, as well as our Caribbean neighbours, brace for another increase in the price of flour and the imminent drastic increase in the prices of related baked products. This related increase in baked products will be most felt by consumers when the bakeries increase the price of bread next week, as bread seems to be the most consumed baked product. With these increases in the price of flour we may soon have to do without them. Hmm, no flour, no bread, no dumplings, no pastry, no cakes... damn that's going to be hard! I guess we will have to start looking to some form of alternative to bread. Yam, potato, plantains, sweet potato... but wait... these are all expensive! But where there is a hunger there is a way, so I guess we will soon have to echo the sentiments below...

http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/

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