We note that Damian Obiglio did not mention anything about the subject of 'netmetering', nor the question of whether the Jamaica Public Service Company Ltd (JPS) would be amenable to allowing other generators of electricity to retail it to consumers.

I would like them to give us a direct answer on how they feel about these two topics. It is my opinion that (as recommended by the erstwhile Dr Anthony Chen, member of the Al Gore team of Nobel Prize winners), the consumers should be given the right to invest in equipment to produce cleaner and cheaper sources of alternate energy, which can reduce the cost of generating electricity, and be paid for the surplus production which they would add to the grid, at the same rate that the JPS is charging them.

Sounding the death knell

If the increase requested by JPS is granted, then it would be an admission that their efforts to curtail the theft of electricity have failed dismally, and the Office of Utility Regulation (OUR) is satisfied that it cannot be improved. The penalising of the productive sector in the proposed formula will sound the death knell of manufacturing in Jamaica. Serious manufacturers may just as well pack up and go to Trinidad.

The JPS and the OUR needs to face the facts that the future of Jamaica's productive sector is at stake. Open up the market for investors or watch the economy continue to slide.

I am, etc.,

Donald Chung

dontruly@yahoo.com

Hope Road, St Andrew