JPS Restores Power After Islandwide Blackout Hits Jamaica

Jamaica was hit by an islandwide power outage on Friday night, June 5, 2026, after what Jamaica Public Service Company said was a system failure. JPS said it activated its incident command centre and began restoring electricity in stages while investigating what caused the blackout.

Energy Minister Daryl Vaz described the outage as unacceptable. In a statement, he said JPS leadership advised him that all power stations were being restarted, with the aim of restoring electricity across the island on a phased basis overnight into Saturday morning. Vaz also requested a full report from JPS within 24 hours, including an explanation of the cause.

JPS representative Audrey Williams said the company had begun putting customers back on the grid, but could not yet provide a percentage for restoration or a timeline for full recovery. She said the utility had theories about what triggered the failure, including the possibility of lightning strikes, but would not release unverified information.

JPS communications official Winsome Callum later said power had returned to some customers in sections of Kingston and St. Andrew, St. James, Clarendon and St. Catherine. She said generating units had been restarted and that crews, along with remote grid technology, were being used to bring customers back online safely.

Reports from the public indicated that some areas, including parts of Montego Bay, Manor Park, Golden Spring, Lawrence Tavern, Middle Quarters and sections of Kingston, had electricity restored. Other communities, including Portmore, Spanish Town, Mandeville, St. Mary, St. Thomas and parts of St. Ann, were still reporting outages during the live update.

Callum apologised to customers and said the company was working to restore service as quickly as possible. She said JPS expected most customers to regain power during the night, but could not give a more detailed projection while restoration continued.