Minister Clive Mullings retrogade step on Energy Sector Liberalization - JPS Co's Monopoly An Inconvenient Truth

Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale

Her infinite variety: other women cloy

That appetites they feed; but she makes hungry

Where most she satisfies

Shakespeare, Anthony and Cleopatra, II, 2

Energy Minister Clive Mullings has done something that looks strange not only to political pundits’ pre-2012AD General Elections, but also to Engineering folk as well. This as the Ministry of Energy and Mining, of which he is the Minister, has given tacit rubberstamp approval to Marubeni Corporation to transfer its shares to Korean-based EWP (East-West Power Company Limited) as stated in the article “Korean company will improve operations at JPS — Mullings”, published Wednesday, July 20, 2011 BY ALICIA DUNKLEY Observer senior reporter, The Jamaica Observer.

Even stranger, is that the OUR (Office of Utilities Regulation) has now effectively advised that breaking up the JPS Co (Jamaica Public Service Company’s) monopoly on Energy Distribution will most likely result in power increases as stated in the article “Energy Flip-Flop - Government Backtracks On JPS-Monopoly Policy”, published Wednesday July 20, 2011, Daraine Luton, Senior Staff Reporter, The Jamaica Gleaner. Effectively, the JLP (Jamaica Labour Party) is taking an about face on what should be a bipartisan issue that has long term implications for Jamaica’s competitiveness as a manufacturing force in the Caribbean.

This as expressed in the shocking words of Energy Minister Clive Mullings, quote: “Bearing in mind the size of Jamaica, while no RFP (request for proposal) has gone out, studies and enquiries have shown that there won't be takers to go into transmission and distribution because you are not guaranteed any rate of return on either thing - either generation or transmission and distribution”.

His words come at the advisement of Washington DC-based Energy consultant Castalia, who said of the Liberalization of the distribution Network:

1. Increase in rates for residential and small commercial customers
2. No reduction in costs to Small and Medium Enterprises and Industry customers

A complete reversal from the words spoken by Former Minister of Energy and Mining James Robertson, some two (2) years prior, quote: “We believe that it is now necessary to reconsider the value of maintaining a monopolistic structure with respect to distribution and transmission of electricity. As such, similar to power generation, power transmission and distribution must now be open to competition.”

Japanese owned Marubeni Corporation transfer of 50% shares creates some interesting statistics in terms of share ownership:

1. Government owns 19.9%
2. Marubeni owns 40%
3. EWP owns 40%
4. Three thousand (3000) independent shareholders own the remaining 0.1%

Of EWP, Minister Clive Mullings speaks, saying: “EWP is in the business of generating electricity from various fuel types, including Liquefied Natural Gas, and it is anticipated that with the project at the stage that it is at, we will be able to bring everything on line by the last quarter of 2014 in terms of the operations of the 360 megawatts to tie that in with the provision of LNG. So, it is very important that we get all these factors aligned so that we can deliver to the consumer lower energy prices.”

There is truth about LNG (Liquid Natural Gas) and lower prices, as it will make the Bauxite Industry cheaper and more economically feasible and resilient to external Economic shocks due to its perennially lower prices and relatively high abundance as noted in the article “LNG will always be cheaper for Jamaicans, says Colombian firm”, published Wednesday, October 06, 2010 by STEVEN JACKSON, Business Observer writer, The Jamaica Observer.

The People Republic of Trinidad and Tobago had been our First choice for LNG as my blog article entitled “Alternative Energy and LNG - Is Energy Sector Liberalization necessary?”

However, recent events as described in my blog article entitled “Alternative Energy and Trinidad and Tobago - Strange Encounters of the Third Kind” have revealed that The People’s Republic of Trinidad and Tobago only has ten (10) years of LNG left as stated in the article “Ten years left of LNG in T&T”, published Friday, July 16, 2010 BY RENUKA SINGH, The Jamaica Observer. Thus our attention turned to other suppliers, inclusive of the Colombians.

Former Energy Minister James Robertson suggested as much as per announcement at a luncheon celebrating Noranda Jamaica Bauxite Partners' first anniversary of operations in Jamaica as mentioned in the article “US$3-B infrastructural upgrade coming with Natural Gas - Robertson”, published Sunday, October 03, 2010, The Jamaica Observer. The benefits of that US$3 billion deal to the Bauxite Industry and Jamaica National Grid as noted in my blog article entitled “Alternative Energy and Distributed AEPP - The GoldenEye Talk Shop” would have seen:

1. Six hundred million dollars (US$600,000,000) for the LNG Infrastructure
2. Eight hundred million dollars (US$800,000,000) laid out to retool an make more efficient the Five (5) operational Alumina/Bauxite plants
3. Seven hundred million dollars (US$700,000,000) going to increasing the use of Renewable Energy sources, with the excess spillover capacity power going to the National Grid in one million
4. Two hundred thousand dollars (US$1,200,000) worth of investments

Thus, under Ministry of Energy and Mining Clive Mullings the expected improvements that EWP brings to the table are also a delight to Power engineers everywhere:

1. 360 Megawatts by 2014AD
2. 120 Megawatts by 2016AD

A grand total of 480 Megawatts of power, as promised originally by former Minister of Energy and Mining Senator James Robertson, most of which was to come form Renewable energy Resources as stated in the article “Robertson bats for renewable energy sources”, published Sunday, December 05, 2010, The Jamaica Observer! This is in addition to the 65.5 Megawatts of power that JEP (Jamaica Energy Partners) will add to the National Grid at a cost of  US$112 million in a deal the OUR (Office of Utilities regulation) approved in April 2010AD as stated in the article “JEP lands power deal”, published Friday April 9, 2010, The Friday Financial Gleaner.

This diversification of Energy Resources into Renewable Energy is a necessity, as World Old Prices are set to rise after 2015AD, now largely accepted as the year when Global Oil Supply will equal Demand and trigger Peak Oil Crisis, setting off economic upheavals in a world dependent on Oil for its Energy as stated in my blog article entitled “Alternative Energy and the Caribbean - Peak Oil in 2015 and The Day After Tomorrow”. LNG and upgrading the Old Generators that JPS Co owns should realize significant improvements in generating capacity as well as energy efficiency at the now antiquated Power Plants.

But this backpedaling on  what is clearly a bipartisan issues of Energy Sector Liberalization, specifically of the Distribution Network is based on arguments that are really those of JPS Co speaking through the OUR, which is supposed to be defending Jamaicans against price gouging Utility Companies as pointed by JLP (Jamaica Labour Party) Senator Everald Warmington as stated in the article “JLP MP lashes Gov't - says JPS monopoly hurting the poor”, published Wednesday, July 20, 2011 BY ALICIA DUNKLEY Senior staff reporter, The Jamaica Observer.

Especially after the bipartisan show of support for Energy Sector Liberalization this year as noted in the article “Massive JPS bill sparks outrage in the Senate”, published Sunday, July 10, 2011 BY RHOMA TOMLINSON Sunday Observer writer, The Jamaica Observer and the video “VIDEO: End JPS monopoly now, says PNP”, published Friday, July 15, 2011, The Jamaica Observer. Not to mention the appalling electricity usage of the Government Ministries as stated in my blog article entitled “GOJ and Government Ministry's Energy Usage - Senator Audley Shaw and the Langoliers”.

My blog article entitled “Ad Valorem Gas, 10 percent GCT on Electricity and Alternative Energy - Night and Day” and more recently in my blog article entitled “EU, USA and the Second Recession - Economist Dennis Chung's Andromeda and The Long Night” points out how dangerous this bickering and political grandstanding is over what should be a bipartisan political issue, especially as a Second Recession is now very possible and is even at the gate.

It is clear why the JPS Co is averse to Net Metering as opposed to Net Billing as described in the article  “Want to sell light back to JPS?”, published Friday, March 18, 2011, The Jamaica Observer and the article  “The Truth about Net Metering”, published Sunday March 20, 2011 by Dan Theoc, Contributor, The Jamaica Gleaner. Net Billing involves giving discounts to people who produce their own electricity [solar panels, wind turbines] as per my blog article entitled “Alternative Energy and Residential Solar Power - The Social Network” and redistribute the excess back into the National Grid.

This as opposed to Net Metering in which Cash payments are made to the customer for this extra electricity generated as JPS Co loses the bulk of its electricity generated at source on its antiquated Distribution Network as stated in my blog article entitled “Nuclear Power and Net Metering - Paulwell's Energy Sector Liberalization Chess Game”.

As for the Electricity becoming more expensive due to the lack of Economy-of-scale and thus justifying a monopoly by the JPS Co due to the islands physical size, it is good to note that Economy-of-scale requirements the size of an island indicates the level of inefficiency of JPS Co.

After all, if you are running a PUC (Power Utility Company) and you have to have three million customers (3,000,000) customers to be efficient compared to a more efficiently run operation involving Wind Turbines and Solar Panels in a Distributed Network in order to be profitable, it speaks volumes as to the amount of power your Distribution Network or older Equipment must be wasting before money comes into your PUC for the Electricity used.

Large multi-nationals are never very efficient and often argue for large numbers of customers and monopolies in order to maintain control and thus justify their expenditures without seeking to capitalize on gains from efficiency upgrades.

JPS Co fears that should the Distribution Network be Liberalized as PNP (People’s National Party) Senator Phillip Paulwell, Opposition Spokesman on Energy, Mining and ICT stated quote: “the current cost [electricity and fuel] is astronomical, especially for businesses. What is needed at this time is competition in the sector,” in the article “'Follow my blueprint' - Paulwell still pushing for breakup of JPS monopoly”, published Friday April 30 2010, Mark Titus, Business Reporter,The Jamaica Gleaner, they will become unprofitable.

This as in such a Liberalized Energy Sector Scenario, the price on Alternative Energy Gear would be lowered to encourage Energy Sector Liberalization and Local Investors and Foreign Direct Investors to set up Distributed Alternative energy Power Plants and bill customers for usage as per my blog article entitled “Alternative Energy and Residential Solar Power - The Social Network”. Homeowners and businesses would disconnect themselves from the National Grid in droves and JPS Co would see their profit margins plummet.

But sensing their coming demise, JPS Co appears to have at least agreed to renegotiate certain terms of their exclusive Energy Distribution license as stated in the article “Korean company will improve operations at JPS — Mullings”, published Wednesday, July 20, 2011 BY ALICIA DUNKLEY Observer senior reporter, The Jamaica Observer as well as Net Billing, hoping to placate the Jamaican Busineses who blame them for the high level of inflation in Jamaica.

JPS Co and the OUR are not concerned about the customer’s experiencing higher Electricity prices, despite the soothsaying of Energy Minister Clive Mullings’ US based advisor; they fear themselves losing profitability due to customers opting to generate their own power, An Inconvenient Truth (2006) that they refuse to admit to the Public.

For our Survival post-Peak Oil 2015AD and a possible Second Recession, Energy Sector Liberalization is a must and Energy Minister Clive Mullings must act on this bipartisan issue to secure our Energy Future!

Tremont Electric nPower PEG Kinetic Charger - Showgirls Flashdance Energy

Science is vastly more stimulating to the imagination than are the classics

J. B S Haldane, Daedelus

Today is a boring Wednesday July 13^th 2011AD. I posted no blog article on Tuesday July 12^th 2011AD on account of doing an interview in Kingston for a company that offers a really low paying job. Thus tiredness and discussion with my friend with whom I traveled to the interview knocked me out like a light.

So to make up for it, this is one of three (3) posts on a slow writer’s day “when de customers dem a hide me out” as my deceased SDA girlfriend Audia Granston would curse wistfully in her Cosmetology shop, that I wish to get out of the woodwork of my computer files and onto my blog.

Alas, I fear the worst is yet to come, as it appears all my premonitions about the World Economy are coming to pass. We are on the cusp of a Second Recession, folks.

It appears that the problems in the Greek and Irish economies are now expanding to other World economies within the group pivotal to a stable EU, known whimsically as the PIIGS (Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Germany and Spain) my blog article entitled “Apple iPad and the House of Representatives - Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” as they are all teetering on default of their relative sovereign Government Bonds.

This as:

1. Portugal is on its way into its own two (2) year recession by 2012AD since May of 2011AD as stated in the article “Portugal recession 'will last two years”, published 5 May 2011 at 15:25 GMT, BBC World News
2. The United States of America political divisionism may result in the US Economy defaulting on its Government Bonds by the US Senate being divided on the issue of Budget cuts and raising the Borrowing cap by printing more Treasury Bills as stated in the article “Obama: US debt talks failure 'could restart recession'”, published 11 July 2011 at 21:37 GMT, BBC World News
3. IMF is now urging Italy to take austerity measures as well as stated in the article “IMF urges Italy to enforce spending cuts”, published 13 July 2011 at 15:46 GMT, BBC World News

So albeit the Greeks have been rescued at the last minute by the IMF with a Euro 110 billion loan package to help them pay off money owed to investors in their Government Bonds as stated in the article “Greece to get next part of IMF financial rescue package”, published 8 July 2011 at 21:53 GMT, BBC World News, there is still the possibility of a Second Recession as shown above.

While these implications loom in the real world, one New York Company has hit upon the fabulous Engineering idea for creating energy from all that restless back and forth walking that must be the result of sleepless nights of US Senators pacing the corridors of Washington DC in worry over the Economy.

Tremont Electric has developed the nPower PEG (Personal Electric Generator) that converts walking motion into electricity suitable for charging small gadgets as state in the article “Motion-powered gadget charger back on track”, published JULY 1, 2011 7:31 AM PDT by Martin LaMonica, CNET News - Green Tech and the article nPower PEG orders being taken, published 07/01/2011 09:59 PDT By Edwin Kee, UberGizmo.

The US$159 device appears as shown below and was the talk of CES (Consumer Electronics Show) 2011:

Originally making its debut in June 2009AD as stated in the article “Charging gadget redefines power-walking”, published JUNE 3, 2009 9:39 AM PDT by Candace Lombardi, CNET News - Green Tech.

It is yet another solution to charging power hungry electronic gadgets when no Electrical Power outlets are handy simply by something we do naturally: walking and moving about.

The nine (9) ounce, 9" by 1.5" device has a lot in common with uBeam, a company started by University of Pennsylvania graduates named Meredith Perry and Nora Dweck. Their company, uBeam, was the talk of the D9 Conference held earlier in June 2011AD to market their unique take on the use of Ultrasonics in a Ultrasonic Power Transfer Device to charge gadgets when they run out of power as stated in the article “New Technology beams Power over Sound Waves”, published JUNE 3, 2011 4:00 AM PDT by Rafe Needleman,CNET News - Rafe's Radar.

My blog article entitled “uBeam's Perry & Dweck Ultrasonic Power Transfer - Rafe Needleman's Hidden Village of Sound” took the device a step further and suggested that they team up with Sang-Woo Kim of the Institute of Nanotechnology at Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul, South Korea as stated in the article “Scream at your phone to recharge it?”, MAY 9, 2011 5:09 PM PDT by John Scott Lewinski, Crave - CNET News and use ambient noise to power their device, effectively a Ultrasonic Power Inverter to power their Ultrasonic Power Transfer.

Tremont Electric has developed the nPower PEG is literally the same concept. It uses Faraday’s Principle of Electromagnetic Induction and a pair of coils within the device with a movable magnet tuned to the oscillation frequency of walking. This creates the electrical power when the magnet oscillates up and down through a pair of coils within the device as aptly described in the article “The nPower PEG - US$150 kinetic energy harvester charges smartphones off-the-grid”, published 02:48 May 2, 2010 By Gizmag Team.

With its convenient USB adaptor, this device comes preset to recharge a wide range of electronic gadgets. Great for those days on the road when your smartphones run out, as you can literally walk your way to more power!

Much as my suggestion to convert ambient sound to Ultrasonic Energy, Tremont Electric would foreseeable save on the a lot of electrical power if most gadget owners used the device to charge their gadgets as opposed to leaving it plugged into a wall socket, quote: “If our entire target market used the PEG to recharge their cell phones for an hour each day, instead of plugging into a wall outlet, they would reduce the amount of electricity needed from the grid by 25.4 million kilowatts. That's enough energy to power 21,000 households for an entire year”

A simple solution to a problem a lot less complex than the current Economic catastrophe facing the world in the form of a possible Second Recession as the US Senate Showgirls (1995) do their Flashdance (1983) to save the world from the inevitable. Tremont Electric might just do the same thing for Electronics lovers! 

QR Codes and Shopping in South Korea - My Science Project for A Virtual Supermarket

A canner, exceedingly canny,

One morning remarked to his granny,

“A canner can can

Anything that he can

But a canner can’t can a can, can he?”

Carolyn Wells, The Canner

It seems that my blog article on QR Codes entitled “Daqri combines QR Codes with Augmented Reality - Ads and PR Minority Report Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” is wildly popular as from the day of posting online, it has shot up to being number two (2) on my Top 5 Weekly Most Popular Blog Posts. Apparently, there is nascent but growing interest in QR (Quick Response) Codes among Jamaicans, who are just getting hip to this latest trend.

Not to be left out, here is the code for my blog, which I made at the Quick QR website:

I say “just getting hip” as this Sunday July 10^th 2011AD, while I was trawling the Sunday Gleaner Newspaper for job posting to apply to, I came across a curious one. It was a position for a Sales Marketing Executive (not in my field; I am Telecoms Engineering!).

But it was the advert’s use of a QR Code was what caught my eye, as it was the only information in the ad. Traditionally, only the Local Telecom Providers, such a Telecom Provider LIME and Telecom Provider Digicel, since last year, have been using QR Codes. So this employment post that featured ONLY a QR Code was quite an interesting surprise!

Apparently, the company advertising the position was effectively saying you had to have a smartphone or a Blackberry, as it might as well be a QR Code with an AR (Augmented Reality) Daqri script (sorry, I couldn’t check!!).

Holographic AR Job postings may be the future of Marketing and Public Relation Posts in the Sunday Newspapers. Heck, possibly even for Work in general in the future, as it is cheaper, being as it saves on advertising costs to just print a small QR Code as opposed to a full spread employment ad.

Human Resources Managers are effectively telling prospective employees that knowledge of Mathematics, the Sciences and Computing was no longer the preserve of Pure and Applied Sciences “Know-it-alls” at UWI, but was now necessary knowledge to even get a job. You have to know how to use a computer in much the same way a soldier is familiar with his M16, and not just sit in front of it, with your blouse open and breasts gulping air, playing Solitaire and typing Microsoft Word Documents all day!

After all, the prospective employees HAVE to be able to DOWNLOAD a QR Reader app to their Blackberry, a skill in itself to even READ QR Codes on your Blackberry or other phones considered smartphones, such as the Apple iPhone or Google Android smartphones.

Rather strange bit of coincidence, that job advert! This as it is the aftermath of not only my blog post that predicted the demise of Public Relations and Marketing by Social Networks above, but also my Geezam blog article entitled “Social Media Marketing – Advertising and Marketing in Ja on a Shoe-String” that spoke of the emergence of Social Media Marketing as the new Paradigm in Advertising and Marketing.

Within that article on Daqri, I also had also referenced another article in The Jamaica Observer on QR Codes entitled “Revolutionary Marketing - Creative ways to use QR Codes in business”, published Sunday, July 03, 2011, The Jamaica Observer. This article is the work of Internet Marketing Consultant Wayne Marsh (such people actually exist in Jamaica?).

More of his handiwork can be seen at his website E-Business Solutions Limited.

I made reference to it, as it was chock full of suggested implementations for QR Codes, the above posting in the Sunday Gleaner dated Sunday July 10^th 2011AD being a simple example. One of Internet Marketing Consultant Wayne Marsh mentioned ideas in his article was the use of QR Codes to grant Discount Coupons via a smartphone QR Code Reader. 

This sounds a lot like a suggestion I had made with regards to monetizing the Color Social Network, which is basically a Proximity Geo-Location Augmented Reality Photo Sharing Social Network (note to self: need to shorten that!!) as chronicled in my blog article entitled “Color Social Network & Valpak Virtual Coupons - Augmented View's True Colours” using ValPak Augmented Reality coupons sans QR Codes.

Heck, even the Newspaper itself, in its entirety, may be delivered via a single QR Code in an alternative Mash-up with Google News, a service I described in my blog article entitled “Geo-Location Rise and Google News - Vybz Kartel's News Minority Report Color-ing Book”

So what if instead of just coupons, be they virtual or printed, which in itself is an old fashioned concept, you could just skip to buying the product and possibly even getting the discount directly from the store via QR Codes!

Tesco, a British Supermarket Giant that has rebranded itself as Home Plus in face of sagging sales and stiff competition in South Korea, does just that, allowing subway commuters in South Korea to scan QR Codes of lifelike pictorial representations of products at Subway Stations as shown below.

South Koreans, often about their busy lives in the city, purchase their groceries via QR Codes and have them delivered to their house as stated in the article “South Korean supermarket chain opens virtual grocery stores in subways”, published JULY 7, 2011 JEFFREY VAN CAMP, Digital Trends.

Would something like this work in Jamaica?

Most definitely, as straight off the bat, this would be a clever business concept for a virtual Supermarket which delivers its products directly to its consumer’s homes in Jamaica. Possibly offering free local delivery of an equivalent nature to the free shipping offered by Amazon’s subsidiary Quidsi in their latest outing, Wag.com.

Which is similar, except it delivers pet related items as stated in my blog article entitled “Amazon's Wag.com Social Network for Pets - Quidsi in the Flight of the Navigator”

So my idea solidifies: A Virtual Supermarket, with only warehousing both room temperature and Cold Storage that delivers products to your doorstep with the aid of Robotics (wishful thinking there!!) for free and you only have to scan a QR Code and make the purchase right then and there on your mobile phone.

Possibly the purchase is done via Scotia Banks Mobile Banking Facility or even Mozido Jamaica Limited possible implementation of Google Wallet in Jamaica for Remittances as stated in my blog article entitled “Mozido Jamaica Limited and Mobile Payments - Plants and Zombies say the Gods must be Crazy”.

So to Local Jamaica Investors or any FDI (Foreign Direct Investors): Virtual Reality Supermarket powered by QR Codes, anyone, being as it is My Science Project (1985)?