JPS restoring power after islandwide outage as Vaz summons emergency meeting

KINGSTON, Jamaica — By 5:00 am Saturday, power had returned to roughly 500,000 of the 700,000 Jamaica Public Service Company customers affected by Friday night's islandwide electricity failure.

Energy Minister Daryl Vaz gave the update, saying it was based on information supplied by JPS. He said he was also advised that customers still without supply should be reconnected over the course of the morning.

Vaz has summoned JPS executives to an emergency meeting set for 2:00 pm. That session is to be followed by a press briefing at the JPS Command Centre.

"I have monitored developments throughout the night concerning the all-island outage. I have advised the leadership of the JPS that the Government of Jamaica finds the all-island electricity outage to be totally unacceptable and expects that electricity will be restored to all customers safely and as quickly as possible," Vaz said.

"The outage and protracted delay in restoration cannot be tolerated. JPS must do better. A thorough investigation into the outage will take place," he added.

The minister said JPS had provided an initial indication that a major disruption hit its systems after increased lightning activity over parts of Jamaica.

Vaz said he expects a fuller briefing on what caused the blackout and on the steps to be taken to reduce the risk of another islandwide outage.

He also stressed that the Government understands the serious disruption caused to customers and has directed JPS to make every effort to restore service as quickly as possible.

Vaz acknowledged JPS workers who responded overnight and continued working Saturday to reconnect as many customers as possible in the shortest time.