The Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) is reporting that the compensation it secured on behalf of customers who filed complaints against utility companies has tripled in the past year.
The regulator recovered $63.6 million from the National Water Commission (NWC), Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) and telecommunications firms LIME and Digicel for the financial year ending March. That's up from $21 million last year.
The customers who benefited filed appeals with the OUR after being dissatisfied with how utility service providers addressed their complaints.
The amounts secured by the OUR resulted from the reversal of previously billed charges or credits being applied to customers' accounts.
JPS and NWC accounted for 79% and 20% of the credits applied to customers’ accounts, while the remaining one percent was shared between Digicel and LIME.
The OUR said that, of the 285 appeals that were investigated, 154 were resolved or closed.
In the case of JPS, some customers’ accounts were re-adjusted in their favour, following investigations for alleged illegal activities, while in the case of the NWC, high consumption charges were reviewed and either reduced or written-off.
The decision of both service providers to credit, reduce or write-off the disputed charges came after discussions with the companies.
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