In an advisory, the PUC said its attention had been directed to reports that GPL intends to, or has in fact shut down its Kingston Steam Generation Station as a result, allegedly, of shortage of funds resulting in their being unable to order the usual quantities of fuel.

The statement said:

"The Commission does not wish to comment on the financial status of the company, except to say that in the manner the rates or tariffs are configured, provision is made for any increase in the price of fuel to be passed on to consumers, and these are reflected in the bills which consumers receive, without fail, each month.

The Commission, however, wishes to advise that consumers monitor their use of electricity and more particularly, make notes of the periods of blackouts or power outages. Consumers are further advised to check on the consumption as recorded by the meters installed on your premises and compare these with the consumption claimed in the bills you receive.

If there are discrepancies they should immediately be brought to the attention of the Corporation, or to this Commission, in order to ensure that you pay for what you consume, and not based on amounts arbitrarily assessed.

Reading your meter
Your electricity meter records the number of units (kilowatt hours) of electricity you have used.

There are two types of meters. The Dial meter and the Digital meter.

Dial Meters have a row of dials with hands which move from 0 to 9, the dials next to each other move in opposite directions.

To read the meter start at the left dial, write down the number the hand points to. If the hand is between numbers write down the smaller number but if the hand is between 0 and 9 write 9.

Do not read the small red dial.

Digital Meter: If you have the standard rate tariff your meter will have a single row of figures.

How much electricity used
To find out how much electricity you have used in a period of time you need to take two meter readings.

For example, to find out how much electricity you use in a month, take the first reading at the beginning of the month. Take the second meter reading at the end of the month. Subtract the first meter reading from the second reading to give you the number of units of electricity used.