OUR forms special team to oversee JPS probe into June 5 islandwide blackout

The Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) has formed a dedicated internal team to manage Jamaica's response to the June 5 all-island electricity blackout.

The unit will issue directions to Jamaica Public Service (JPS), carry out required preparatory work, and assess the utility's final report. That review will test whether the findings hold up, whether JPS's recommendations are sound, and whether the follow-up steps the company has outlined are adequate.

OUR Director General Ansell Hewitt said the preliminary report JPS submitted at the regulator's request does not contain enough detail to support firm conclusions.

"Since the report is at best a preliminary incident report with limited attention to root cause, no conclusions, recommendations, or concrete regulatory enforcement actions can flow from it," Hewitt said. "However, it is a helpful signpost to alert us to immediate post-restoration concerns, and to enable us to give further directions to JPS as to the expected scope and the critical inputs that must be addressed in JPS's investigation and reflected in the final detailed report, which is due within 30 days of the full restoration of electricity."

The regulator expects the completed investigation to spell out the full scope of the outage, identify root causes, and set out measures JPS must take to reduce the risk of a repeat event.