Paulwell Presses Holness and OUR on Jamaica Blackout Response

Energy opposition spokesman Phillip Paulwell says Prime Minister Dr. Andrew Holness must explain what led to the grid breakdown that left Jamaica without electricity last night.

Paulwell is also asking whether the proposals made after the August 2016 nationwide outage were put into effect. Following that incident, an official review was carried out and its recommendations were sent to the Office of Utilities Regulation, the OUR.

He said Dr. Holness had then told Jamaicans that steps would be taken to stop a repeat. Almost 10 years on, Paulwell says the country is again forced to question how dependable the electricity network is.

He wants the OUR to tell the public what was done after the 2016 episode, arguing that disruptions of this kind cannot keep happening because of the heavy social and economic consequences.