The Jamaica Public Service, JPS, Jamaica’s major light and power company, has been subject to unrelenting attacks from their consumers over the high costs of their electricity bills.

But to combat this they have come up with a controversial twist. The company responsible for the generation and distribution of electricity for the tropical island is now offering to buy electricity from its consumers.

The Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR), a Jamaican regulatory authority, has granted the light and power company the legal clearance to solicit the sale of electricity to their grids by members of the general public.

Under the proposal, customers of the company who generate their own electricity from renewable resources, such as wind, solar, or from hydro electricity can now legally sell their excess electricity to the JPS for its distribution to its customers.

The purchasing agreement labeled, The Determination Notice Document, is a bittersweet pacifier for the disgruntled Jamaicans.

The new agreement, released on the 30th September 2011, tends to complement and further define the power company’s monopoly on the generation and distribution of electricity, but will not present any huge opportunity for the public to cash in on the electricity business.

Under the All-Island, 2001 Act, which dictates the terms and conditions of energy supply to the national electric grid, the Jamaica Public Service is responsible for and possesses the exclusive rights to the wide scale generation, transmission and distribution of the country’s electricity.

The JPS has been also empowered to offer, at its discretion, in accordance with the conditions outlined by the OUR, and subject to a tendering process, “Standard Offer Contracts” for the procurement of small additions of energy to the company’s power grid by private electricity suppliers.