97% of JPS customers restored as overseas crews prepare to leave Jamaica

More than 97% of customers served by the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) now have electricity restored, as overseas crews who have been assisting with recovery efforts since late October 2025 prepare to depart the island this weekend.

JPS President and Chief Executive Officer Hugh Grant said the company has reached the “last mile” of restoration following months of work to rebuild sections of the power grid damaged by Hurricane Melissa.

Speaking at Wednesday’s post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House, Grant disclosed that approximately 97.5% of JPS customers — about 673,000 of its 690,000 customers — now have power across the island.

“This is the last mile,” he said, noting that the departure of North American line crews marks a significant transition as the company enters the final phase of restoration.

The demobilisation of the overseas workers will be accompanied by a redeployment of local and regional crews from central and eastern parishes, where restoration has largely been completed, to the western region where work is ongoing.

Grant said support continues from 18 Caribbean utilities through the Caribbean Electric Utility Services Corporation (CARILEC), along with regional contracting firms working alongside JPS teams to complete the recovery.

“This progress did not happen by chance. It reflects methodical preparation, investment in our grid, anchored with improvements in technology, disciplined planning, strong execution and very importantly, heightened and effective partnerships,” he said.

Grant noted that JPS adopted a customer-focused approach to ensure fast and safe restoration, including enhanced pre-hurricane coordination with regional utilities, a new incident command structure to streamline response efforts, expanded stakeholder engagement and clearer communication with customers.

He added that innovations such as emergency mobile power generators enabled essential services to resume operations more quickly and allowed businesses to reopen while permanent infrastructure repairs were carried out.

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Jamaican line workers, he said, formed the cornerstone of the restoration effort, supported by overseas crews, particularly from North America.

“The work involved heavy lifting in devastated communities, rebuilding the backbone of the grid and using specialised, large equipment to stabilise and rebuild damaged infrastructure,” Grant said, while expressing gratitude to the international crews for their support.

He also credited partnerships with the Government of Jamaica, the National Water Commission (NWC), National Works Agency (NWA), telecom providers Flow and Digicel, CARILEC and members of the business community for helping to advance the recovery effort.

“These partnerships have carried us thus far, and it is these partnerships that will carry us through the final stages of restoration,” Grant said.