Jamaica’s power rates are among the region’s highest, but renewing the licence of Jamaica Public Service (JPS) alone will not likely lead to lower prices, according to a former Trinidad and Tobago energy minister.
“Jamaica is entering a critical phase of power sector reform,” Kevin Ramnarine wrote this month in a paper published by US think tank Energy For Growth Hub.
Ramnarine, who served as Trinidad and Tobago’s energy minister from 2011 to 2015, warned that “the success of this transition will depend on whether reforms tackle underlying issues such as system losses, contract transparency, and sector governance, rather than focusing solely on renegotiating existing arrangements”.
Ramnarine is also associated with Triple Junction Business Advisory Services Ltd. The Energy For Growth Hub researches ways to raise global ambitions for affordable energy and climate resilience.
“Electricity tariffs in Jamaica remain among the highest in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) region and globally,” he stated, referencing data from Carilec, an association of electric energy solutions providers.
Trinidad & Tobago and Suriname, both oil-producing nations, offered the lowest energy rates in the region for consumers, roughly one-fifth of Jamaica’s, while St Kitts and Nevis, nations without oil resources, paid half of Jamaica’s rate.
The Government’s decision in 2025 not to automatically renew JPS’s licence creates an opening, but only if it is used to address root causes, he reasoned. The island’s power grid operates with roughly 1.0 gigawatt of capacity. JPS holds a monopoly on power distribution; power generation is liberalised, with JPS and private power companies selling power to the grid.
Ramnarine, who is an engineer and attorney, identified compounding structural problems driving electricity costs. “Costs are driven by reliance on imported fuel oil and diesel, and system losses of 26.9 per cent from theft and grid inefficiencies — both passed on to consumers,” he wrote. Legacy power purchase agreements, he added, “continue to lock in uncompetitive pricing”, limiting the system’s ability to benefit from falling renewable costs.
JPS, when contacted, initially directed the Financial Gleaner to state entities for a response. The Office of Utilities Regulation has not yet responded to queries.
Those contracts, he argued, contain fuel pass-throughs, take-or-pay provisions which, in his view, serve to “transfer significant cost and demand risk to consumers”.
Jamaica’s push towards 50 per cent renewable electricity by 2030 does not automatically resolve these problems. He cites the limited results from the island’s diversification into liquefied natural gas, wind, and solar. This has “not fully translated into lower tariffs”.
