JPS Protester Finds Inspiration From Vybz Kartel

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Vybz Kartel

Nine years ago, Dancehall artiste Vybz Kartel shared his opinion of the utility company Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) in a video, and yesterday it seems his words rang true for some protestors who converged on the company’s New Kingston Head Office yesterday.

In that video, aptly called “Vybz Kartel Speaks His Mind ‘Volume Three,’” Kartel speaks about how unjustly Elephant Man was treated by the company who he said accused the Energy God of stealing power. He also shared his own experience with JPS accusing them of raising his bill from $15 000 to $71 000 after he put his name on the address of his home.

“Them JPS people ah take we fuh fool just because them see Adidjah Palmer name pon it.” He then said the next bill was $63 000, which he refused to pay. He added that after several queries, the bill was eventually reduced, and he accused the company of charging him extra because he was a known deejay.

For their poor customer service at the time, Kartel described the company as the Jamaican P@#$yhole Service in the video. Watch below.

In the protests yesterday, one of the protestors seemed inspired by Kartel’s comments as the person holds up a sign asking what the P stands for in JPS, maybe in agreement with Kartel’s take on the service.

Protesters with placards outside the Jamaica Public Service Company's corporate offices in New Kingston.
Protesters with placards outside the Jamaica Public Service Company’s corporate offices in New Kingston.

The protestors are demanding more transparency in how the company is calculating their electricity bills.

The chief organizer of the protest, Dr. Marc Ricketts, told the Jamaica Gleaner,” it came out on social media from JPS that there are charges that we are being asked to foot [and] that we are ultimately absorbing the losses that JPS face from illegal connections. That we find to be unfair; that we find to be ultimately punishing the average man [who] is paying his light bill.”

Dr. Ricketts added, “if things don’t change, there is always the possibility we will be back out again.”

Meanwhile, the senior vice-president of customer services for the company, Ramsay McDonald, apologized for the perception of the service as customers have complained about a spike in electricity bills in the last few weeks.

In a statement to the Jamaica Observer during the protest, he said, “We’re sorry that our relationship has broken down in this way. [It was] not our intention. But I’m certain that some misunderstanding has happened along the way. And I simply say to them (protestors), feel free to reach out to any of us. I know I’ve been in dialogue with them, and we are willing to listen, and we’re willing to deal with the situations that exist as best as possible.”

McDonald continued: “We want to find ways of bringing down electricity costs. Here in Jamaica, we don’t produce natural oil, we don’t produce gas…but what we can do is we can reduce what hurts us greatly on our bills, and that’s the theft of electricity.”

It seems Vybz Kartel’s feelings about the company all those years ago remain true for a lot of Jamaicans who are facing increased electricity prices.