Customers of the Jamaica Public Service Company Limited (JPS) can expect to see at least a 15 per cent reduction in their energy bills at the end of this month if their usage is consistent with last month.

The JPS says the ease comes as the price of fuel on the world market continues its downward trend.

Oil prices have fallen almost 73 per cent to US$41.70 a barrel since peaking at US$147.27 last July.

The light and power company said yesterday that the fuel charges on electricity bills for January will be the lowest in almost two years.

"The fuel and independent power producers (IPP) charge that will be applied to the January bills is $8.655 per kilowatt-hour (kWh), compared to the charge of $12.168 applied to bills last month," a JPS spokesperson said in a press release yesterday.

JPS said this reduction could translate to an overall decrease of up to 19 per cent in some customers' bills this month, compared with the bills they received in December.

The light and power company further noted that with the most recent reduction, fuel and IPP charges on electricity bills have declined by more than 57 per cent since August last year.

"Unprecedented increases in oil prices in the first few months of 2008 resulted in monthly increases in the fuel and IPP charge on bills, which peaked at a high of $20.323 per kWh in August," JPS said.

A typical residential customer who consistently uses 200 kWh of electricity will see an overall decrease of about 15 per cent in his or her January bill.

Business customers who have not increased their electricity usage will see decreases of between 15 and 19 per cent.

Source: JPS