St. Thomas Residents Turn Out in Force for Government House Wiring Support

More than 400 residents in St. Thomas put forward applications on Thursday, June 4, as the Government’s House Wiring Programme drew its biggest single turnout to date in the parish.

The initiative is being carried out by the Jamaica Social Investment Fund, JSIF, alongside the Ministry of Energy, Transport and Telecommunications and the Jamaica Public Service Company, JPS. It is intended to help vulnerable households across Jamaica move into the formal electricity system.

JPS also brought its mobile office to the St. Thomas registration exercise, allowing applicants to start the customer process at the event.

Dane McLean, Project Manager with responsibility for JSIF’s National Energy Poverty Reduction Programme, said the response in the parish far exceeded previous exercises. “St. Thomas has been overwhelming. Today (Thursday), we’ve had the largest number of households turn up for any single house-wiring initiative. Since Hurricane Melissa, we’ve had over 12 of these functions and, on average, we have between 100 to 200 persons. Today, in St Thomas, we had over 400 households who come out and have expressed an interest to be part of the programme,” he said.

McLean was speaking with JIS News at the sign-up session, which took place at the Social Development Commission office in Springfield, St. Thomas.

He said organisers were unable to process everyone on Thursday. As a result, the St. Thomas schedule is being lengthened, with the team set to return on Friday, June 6, so residents who turned out can still be considered under the programme.

According to McLean, the support is aimed at people living in vulnerable communities who want to regularise their electricity access. “Once you are in the community, once you want to become regularised and have your home wired and be a customer with JPS, you can come, bring your ID, Taxpayer Registration Number (TRN) and we support you in that regard,” he said.

Successful applicants receive a Government grant for complete house wiring. The assistance also includes a starter kit of two lights and two plugs, and each completed installation is certified by the Government Electrical Regulator.

The programme further connects beneficiaries to JPS’s prepaid electricity option, which removes monthly billing and lets customers buy small amounts of power credit as they are able. “They can top up as low as $200, $500… or as their income allows. Persons are able to buy credit and top up their account to receive electricity access,” McLean said.

Beneficiaries are also to get a smart prepaid meter and $4,000 in electricity credit for their first six months of service.

JPS Customer Onboarding Manager Stacey Passley-Brown said the partnership with JSIF allows residents to handle several steps in one place. “JPS is here to provide the office services, where we take their documents towards them signing a contract with us. So, once the house wiring is completed and passed, it is handed over to us and we just continue with the process,” she said.