REP Providing Access to Safe and Affordable Electricity

The Government, through the Rural Electrification Programme (REP), is providing persons with access to safe and affordable electricity to improve their quality of life, while stimulating economic and social activities in communities.

Managing Director of the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF), Omar Sweeney, said that under the programme, the houses of selected beneficiaries will be wired to regularise connection to the national grid.

The investment is valued at more than $100,000 each.

“It is a significant investment for the greater good to ensure that there is safety in the communities,” Mr. Sweeney said, noting that it will reduce the dangers associated with illegal connections.

These include electrocution, fires, and damage to appliances.

Mr. Sweeney said it will also reduce electricity distribution loss, which will lower the cost of energy for all Jamaicans.

“The idea is to bring everybody who is accessing electricity illegally, to legal. Once you do that, you immediately realise close to a 15 per cent reduction in your light bill. So, it is to the benefit of Jamaicans,” he noted.

A project of the Ministry of Science, Energy Telecommunications and Transport (MSETT), and executed by JSIF, the REP aims to address two of the main impediments to accessing electricity by householders – affordability with respect to the cost to wire houses and the unavailability of pole line infrastructure in some communities.

More than 2,400 houses have been wired, to date, at cost of approximately $200 million.

For 2023/24, a total of 800 houses will receive support, while approximately six communities will also benefit from a further 3.6 kilometres of pole line extension.