Jamaica experienced a rare island-wide blackout late Friday local time. Energy, Telecommunications, and Transport Minister Daryl Vaz confirmed Saturday morning that all affected customers had their power restored. He urged residents to report any lingering individual issues but, alongside Prime Minister Andrew Holness, deemed the situation 'unacceptable.'
The outage began around 9 p.m. local time (2 a.m. Saturday GMT), originating from the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS), the sole electricity distributor on the island. JPS noted the blackout struck at the start of the Atlantic hurricane season, raising concerns about the grid's resilience against future weather events. By 2 a.m. Saturday, 20% of customers—about 140,000 people in areas including Kingston, St Andrew, and Clarendon—had power back. Three hours later, Minister Vaz announced electricity had been restored to 500,000 of JPS's 700,000 customers, with the remainder expected to be reconnected within hours.
Minister Vaz convened an emergency meeting with government and JPS representatives to discuss the incident and plans to hold a press conference. 'I have been closely monitoring the situation throughout the night and will continue until full restoration is achieved,' he wrote on social media. 'I am committed to informing and updating the nation on THIS UNACCEPTABLE SITUATION.' According to a government statement, Minister Vaz demanded a comprehensive report from JPS within 24 hours, including the root cause of the blackout. JPS said it is investigating the cause. Island-wide blackouts are rare in Jamaica, typically occurring only during severe weather emergencies, such as last October when Hurricane Melissa—a Category 5 storm—struck, causing billions in damage, 45 deaths, and 13 people missing.
