The Caribbean Electric Utility Services Corporation (CARILEC) has activated its Disaster Assistance Programme (CDAP), to support electric utility member Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS), following the passage of Hurricane Melissa.
The CARILEC Secretariat, in close collaboration with member utilities as well as private contractors, coordinated the deployment of resources, including lineworkers, equipment, and material to Jamaica, to support JPS with rebuilding their Transmission and Distribution networks and restoring electricity to their customers.
Hurricane Melissa was one of the most powerful hurricanes ever measured in the region, making landfall in Jamaica on 28 October 2025, as a Category 5 hurricane, leaving more than 70% of the island’s electrical customers without power. In its Restoration Update on Monday, 10 November, JPS informed that 64% of its customers had regained their electricity supply. 81% of major health facilities, 56% of telecommunication critical sites, and 58% of National Water Commission critical sites had been restored.
To date, 17 regional utilities and 2 private contractors have committed their support to JPS under CDAP. 131 Line workers have already been deployed, with additional resources scheduled to arrive during the coming week. The teams being deployed hail from the Anguilla Electricity Company Limited, Antigua Public Utilities Authority, Barbados Light & Power Company Ltd, Bahamas Power & Light, Belize Electricity Limited, British Virgin Islands Electricity Corporation, Caribbean Utilities Company/Cayman Islands, Dominica Electricity Services, Grand Bahama Power Company, Guyana Power & Light, Grenada Electricity Services Ltd., Nevis Electricity Company, Pelican Energy TCI/Turks & Caicos Islands, St Kitts Electricity Company, St Lucia Electricity Services Limited, St Vincent Electricity Services Limited, the Trinidad & Tobago Electricity Commission, and private contractors Islandwide Electrical and Kings Electrical based in St Lucia.
With support from the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA), CARILEC has partnered with the United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (UKFCDO) to coordinate the deployment of resources, including line workers and equipment, to support electrical restoration for Jamaica.
CARILEC’s Executive Director, Dr Cletus Bertin, said: “We’re extremely grateful to our members who have answered the call to support Jamaica in their restoration efforts. CDAP is built on the premise of regional collaboration and mutual assistance. Our member utilities contribute to a fund which is activated when a Utility is impacted by a disaster and requests assistance to restore its electricity supply and rebuild damaged T&D infrastructure. Assistance is most commonly requested in the form of manpower assistance. We work with member utilities and private contractors who select Lineworkers to deploy to affected utilities to aid in the restoration of electricity supply.”
CDAP was established by CARILEC in 1998 to bring utilities together to enable speedy and efficient restoration of electricity to member islands impacted by a disaster. Many of the deployed Lineworkers would have benefitted from training under the CDAP Expansion Programme, designed to prepare them to support the quick, safe and efficient restoration of electricity supply. CARILEC also regularly hosts a series of technical training exercises and the annual Lineworkers Symposium and Rodeo to support the ongoing capacity building of personnel who are on the ‘front line’ of electricity service supply across the region.
CARILEC
