JPS restores power to 500,000 customers after islandwide outage

Energy Minister Daryl Vaz is maintaining that Friday night’s islandwide power outage, caused by a breakdown in Jamaica Public Service systems, should not have happened.

Vaz said that by 5 a.m. on Saturday, June 6, roughly 500,000 JPS customers in every parish had been put back on the electricity grid. He added that the remaining affected customers were expected to have service restored later Saturday morning.

The minister also said an emergency media briefing would be held on Saturday. In an update, JPS said the meeting had been rescheduled for 2 p.m. at its head office in New Kingston, with the press briefing to follow at 3 p.m.