One person has been arrested after the discovery of an illegally connected heated swimming pool and hot tub at a premises used as a business and residence in downtown, Kingston.
Light and energy provider, Jamaica Public Service Company made the announcement in a news release on Wednesday. According to JPS, the discovery was made during an operation by its crews in the Lower Barry Street, Laws Street, Georges Lane and Rum Lane areas of downtown Kingston.
Several other illegal connections were also removed, the company said, noting that it has been fighting the scourge of electricity theft, not only by carrying out operations in high theft areas, but also with the increased use of analytics, on-the-ground intelligence, random sampling, and meter auditing.
“The Company has found that persons have attempted to have some electrical appliances or other items such as swimming pools, bypass the meter, to avoid paying the correct energy consumption cost,” JPS said.
“Such customers have been caught stealing as much as up to 60 per cent of their consumption. It has been found however, that these customers tend not to steal above this level, in an effort to appear to have a legitimate electricity bill,” the company added.
JPS said the illegal abstraction of electricity continues to be detected at all socio-economic levels. Besides the recent finding in the business place in downtown Kingston, the company said instances of electricity theft have also been found in communities on the other end of the spectrum such as Manor Park, Cherry Gardens and Meadowbrook, among other areas.
