175 Westmoreland Residents to Receive House-Wiring Support

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Approximately 175 residents of several communities across Westmoreland have registered to benefit from house-wiring support under the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF) National Energy Poverty Reduction Project.

The registration exercise was held on April 30 at Savanna-la-Mar Methodist Church.

It formed part of the Government’s broader electrification drive aimed at restoring and expanding access to electricity in vulnerable communities, particularly those impacted by Hurricane Melissa.

Speaking with JIS News, Project Manager for JSIF’s Community Electrification Project, Dane McLean, said that the activity allowed residents to sign up in a single location to receive assistance with house wiring and connection to the national grid.

“So, in Savanna-la-Mar, we had people who either had damage to their electrical infrastructure and needed their homes wired or those who never had legal electricity before and need to get electricity access. We give them opportunity, at a one-stop location, to be able to apply for the service and be documented,” he pointed out.

Outlining the next steps, he informed that installation teams, supervised by JSIF, will be visiting the communities within four weeks to conduct assessments and carry out the necessary work.

Once homes are wired and certified by the Government Electrical Regulator (GER), they will be transferred to the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) for connection to the grid, with prepaid metering at no cost to the beneficiaries.

Mr. McLean told JIS News that, to date, more than 2,500 households have signed up for support through a series of community outreach activities.

He informed that since the electrification programme began five years ago, more than 5,000 homes have been wired.

Manager for Community Renewal, Marilyn McDonald, told JIS News that the utility’s role is to formalise service contracts and connect approved homes once wiring and certification are completed.

This process, she noted, transitions beneficiaries into registered customers with legal and reliable electricity access.

For residents like Donna Morris of Lennox Bigwoods, the programme “could not have come soon enough”.

She told JIS News that she has been without electricity since Hurricane Melissa and has been relying on a small generator to get by.

She said that the assistance is welcomed, as she could not have afforded the cost of wiring her home.

Vernona Greg of the Darling Street community echoed similar sentiment, stating that Hurricane Beryl in 2024 had already set her back before Hurricane Melissa dealt another blow.

“I give thanks for the help that I’m getting right now, because I couldn’t afford it,” she said.