Concurrently, the power utility announced preliminary plans to build a US$475-million 100-megawatt petcoke fuel plant as the second phase of its liquefied natural gas (LNG) project. These projects fall under its five-year US$1.5-billion capital expenditure programme.
Liberalisation without a buy-out would send negative signals to foreign investors, JPS CEO Kelly Tomblin said in a speech to a Jamaica Chamber of Commerce (JCC) meeting in New Kingston."
JPS is owned 40 per cent by Marubeni Corporation, 40 per cent by Korea East-West Power and 19.9 per cent by the Government of Jamaica. The other 0.1 per cent is held by individuals.
"Basically, the government can buy it back from us and then they can liberalise it, and we are certainly open to that. We do not want to stand in the way," Tomblin said.
JPS's current exclusive licence has another 16-year run to 2027.
Tomblin's comments are in response to energy minister Phillip Paulwell's stated policy goal of liberalising the distribution of power to customers. Paulwell has not said how he plans to execute the strategy.
Currently, some 30 per cent of Jamaica's 820-megawatt capacity comes from independent power producers which compete to set up generation units to sell power to JPS. They, however, cannot sell power directly to customers and Tomblin advised Government to avoid breaching the JPS contract.
"I do think it would signal a lack of contract certainty and a lack of regulatory certainty," she told the JCC. "And as the minister, I wouldn't want to signal that to the international community."
Higher electricity bills
The cash-strapped Government has little capacity to buy out Marubeni and East-West Power's stake in JPS.
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