“This meter is actually a full-fledged computer with
a very powerful micro processor having communication capabilities and memory.
It is more advanced than computers were probably five years ago”
Senior
Vice-President of Energy Delivery at JPS Co, Gary Barrow explaining the Smart
Meter rollout in 2016
JPS Co is finally making it super easy to track how
much power your digital smartmeter is using as well as make it easier to pay.
This as they've announced plans to roll out a new
App come September 2016 as reported in the article “JPS
to roll out mobile application by September”, published February 07, 2016, The Jamaica Observer.
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JPS Co revealed this during a press briefing at the
company’s headquarters in New Kingston on Friday February 5th 2016.
They also revealed that they're planning to install more smart meters as a part
of the launch of their mobile application after successfully testing the
concept in the upscale Smartphone totin' community of Jacks Hill.
Now it seems, JPS Co plans to make us guinea pigs as
well!
This developement is closely paired with the
continued rollout of their digital smartmeters that started way back in 2011 as
noted my blog
article entitled “JPS
Co New Digital Meters are all Smart Meters - Winsome Callum's A Simple Twist of
Fate”.
They'd recently mentioned their
Digital smartmeter rollout in December 2016, which will give customers the
option to switch to their PAYG (Pay as You Go) Prepaid Meter system as
explained in my blog
article entitled “JPS
Co's Prepaid Meters coming in 2016 - Why Prepaid Meters adoption will explode
in Jamaica”.
So what exactly is JPS Co's plan for Digital
Smartmeter rollout islandwide?
JPS
Co Digital smartmeter rollout – Pay Electricity Bill via Mobile Money on your
smartphone
JPS Co plans are pretty straightforward:
1. US$5
million to install more smartmeters
2. 25,000
smartmeters to be installed in 2016
3. 90,000
smartmeters already installed across the island
In fact, over the next five (5) years, JPS Co plans
to spend US$40 million to build out their smartgrid in a bid to reduce some
US$18 million in losses from electricity thefts reported in 2015.
So by September 2016, with this new App, which I'd predicted
in my MICO Wars blog
article entitled “JPS
C re-launches EBILL Service with Gleaner Online as Mobile Money App a possibility”
expect the following capabilities at in your smartphone:
1. Bill
enquiries
2. Bill
payments
3. Demand
and consumption patterns
4. Energy
cost
5. Estimate
of time restoration
6. General
advisories
7. Instant
notification of outages
8. Real-time
monitoring of Energy conservations
9. Remote
control for connections and disconnections
In fact, this could herald the coming of Mobile
Money via Paymaster to help JPS Co customers to pay their bills directly from
their smartphones as predicted in my blog article
entitled “Why
CONEC Mobile Money to pay JPS Co EBILL before Digicel Paymaster Mobile Money”.
But why smartphones? Why does JPS Co not build their
own Telecom Network?
JPS
Co and smartphone Adoption - 85% globally will own a smartphone by 2030
It seems that JPS Co is betting on the future of
smartphones and alternative Energy sources.
At the press briefing at the company’s headquarters
in New Kingston on Friday February 5th 2016, Senior Vice-President
of Energy Delivery at JPS Co, Gary Barrow revealed some interesting stats:
1. 85%
of the world’s population will own a smartphone by 2030
2. 6.1
billion people worldwide will have smartphones by 2020
This explosion will mostly take place in developing
countries according to research done by Ericsson as noted in the article “The
number of smartphone users in the world is expected to reach a giant 6.1
billion by 2020”, published June 3, 2015 By Andy Boxall, Digitaltrends
This will be fuelled by the rapidly growing
populations like Africa and India as pointed out in my blog article
entitled “United
Nations Population Division says 11.2 billion people by 2100 - Why Africa and
India Population exploding as Insect Meat is coming”.
It also heralds the coming of IoT, as these
smartphones will allow customers to control other things in their home as
pointed out by Gary Barrow, quote: “So your refrigerators, air conditioners,
among other electronics will actually be connected to the Internet through your
Wi-Fi mechanism. So conceivably, in a very short time you will have an
application on your phone and you will be able to control your home through
your smartphone”.
So what’s JPS Co doing to improve power capacity and
reduce outages?
JPS
Co going LNG with New Fortress Energy - Strong tower against Alternative Energy
2015 has already seen the JPS Co launch the Bogue
Conversion Project in October 2015 that herald (finally!) the push towards LNG
(Liquefied Natural Gas) as reported in the article “JPS
Launches $2.5 Billion Bogue Gas Conversion Project”, published October 14,
2015 By Marlon Tingling, The Jamaica Information
Service.
The much touted improvements in supply and cost of
electricity are coming slowly with agreements between American company New
Fortress Energy and JPS Co being signed to supply the LNG as noted in “JPS,
New Fortress Pursuing Separate Parts Of LNG Project”, published January 24,
2016 by Steven Jackson, The Jamaica
Gleaner.
Already, there has been a reduction in the cost of
electricity, thank mainly to the dropping price of Oil on the global market now
settling below US$30 per barrel as noted in “Oil
Speculators Shrug Off Huge Stockpiles to Bet on Price Climb”, published
February 14, 2016 by Mark Shenk, Bloomberg.
Electricity rates are currently among the lowest in
more than five years. JPS Co has fallen in line, reducing their electricity
rates to the point of projecting a loss of JA$400 million per annum reduction
in revenue.
Still, they'll be able to bill customer more
accurately once these Digital Meters are installed, giving customers the option
to switch to their PAYG (Pay as You Go) Prepaid Meter system as explained in my
blog article
entitled “JPS
Co's Prepaid Meters coming in 2016 - Why Prepaid Meters adoption will explode
in Jamaica”.
This a they're prepared to compete with Alternative Energy,
as more and more companies like Wisynco are rolling out massive Solar
installation to reduce the cost of electricity as noted in my blog article
entitled “Wisynco
Group 1 MW Solar Power Plant - British partnership with Padero Solar UK for
conquest of Africa and India”.
JPS Co is clearly ready to embrace a Jamaica going
Alternative Energy especially now that Net Billing has resumed as reported in
the article “Net
Billing Programme to Resume”, published January 28, 2016 By Chris
Patterson, The Jamaica Information Service.
Net billing had been suspended by JPS Co on Friday
May 1st 2015 as pointed out in my blog article
entitled “JA$4.2
Million Meadowbrook High Solar System - Why JPS Co's Net Billing suspension
killing Jamaican Alternative Energy Sector”.
Throw into that high Schools coming off the grid
with the help of the PCJ (Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica) as noted in my blog article
entitled “15
Schools and 3 GOJ Agencies Go Solar - How PCJ Solar Project saves GOJ
Electricity Bills” and we can see why JPS Co is willing to make the
sacrifice to hold on to customers.
Competition
in the Distribution of Electricity - Jesus's Says competition will redeem JPS
Co sinners
The upside of all of this is that the smartmeters
coupled with improvements in power capacity have reduced the frequency of power
outages by 30.3%, with an 11% decline in the average duration of outages.
Competition is still missing and is needed in
Jamaica as pointed out by head of cooperation at the EU (European Union)
Delegation in Jamaica, Jesus Baguena as noted in the article “‘Cut JPS
monopoly’”, published January 28, 2016 by
Alpheus Saunders, The Jamaica
Observer.
This is still not possible as JPS Co is the sole
Distributor of Electricity directly to customers. But with competitive pressure
causing them to lower their prices, expect competition in the distribution side
of the Energy Sector.
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