Your Utility Company Could Owe You Money — Here's How to Claim It

Your utility company could owe you money!

We’re always hearing about the money customers owe utility companies. But sometimes, the utility actually owes YOU.

According to the Office of Utilities Regulation, customers received more than 20 million Jamaican dollars in credits and compensation during the April-to-June quarter. That's about 125-thousand US dollars..

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Perrin Gayle returns to Scotia

New Scotia Jamaica managing director

Perrin Gayle is returning to Scotiabank, this time as Managing Director of The Bank of Nova Scotia Jamaica Limited, effective November 9.

Scotia Group announced the appointment on October 27, one day after his departure from NCB took effect. Gayle will lead the banking subsidiary’s strategy and operations and report to Audrey Tugwell Henry.

Tugwell Henry remains President and CEO of Scotia Group Jamaica, with overall responsibility for the Group. Scotia says separating the leadership roles strengthens governance. Gayle previously held senior corporate, commercial, retail and SME banking roles at Scotia.

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JETS cyber breach

Breach report due October 31

Payment operator JETS is facing scrutiny after disclosing a cyber breach involving part of its internal administrative systems.

Files accessed may have exposed some card numbers held in historical debit-network records and names of some customers receiving ACH transfers. JETS says PINs, card verification codes and expiry dates were not affected. MultiLink and ACH payment networks remain fully operational.

Technology Minister Andrew Wheatley has requested a written report by October 31. Meanwhile, data-protection attorney Chuck Cameron has questioned the minister’s authority to investigate, saying that responsibility rests with the Information Commissioner. Customers are being urged to monitor their accounts and report unfamiliar transactions.

Portland JSX annual loss

US$9.4 million loss

Portland JSX, the listed investment company linked to billionaire Michael Lee-Chin, has reported a loss of approximately 9.4 million US dollars for the financial year ended February 28, 2026. That's more than twice last year's losses of 4.2 million US dollars. The company invests in Caribbean and Latin American businesses through funds managed by his Portland investment network. Lee-Chin is also chairman of NCB Financial Group.

Shareholders’ equity fell from nearly 20 million to just over 10 million US dollars. The wider Lee-Chin investment network has also faced bond-payment delays. Separate companies, including AIC Barbados and Portland Barbados, missed a December 31 deadline before a roughly 94-million-US-dollar payment was received in January. Those obligations were separate from Portland JSX’s results and were not missed payments by NCB.

Melissa toll J$1.95 trillion

Recovery forecast shortened

iHurricane Melissa’s economic toll is estimated at 1.95 trillion Jamaican dollars, or 12.2 billion US dollars, including physical damage, lost income and production, and additional costs. That is equivalent to nearly 57 per cent of Jamaica’s 2024 GDP. The fuller assessment goes beyond the initial 8.8-billion-US-dollar estimate, which covered physical damage alone.

But the projected recovery timeline has shortened. The Planning Institute of Jamaica now expects output to return to its pre-Melissa level as early as April to June 2027, compared with its initial forecast of fiscal year 2028/29. That forecast concerns total economic output; it does not mean every damaged home, road or business will have been rebuilt by then.

On October 27, Prime Minister Andrew Holness announced another 9.65 billion Jamaican dollars for the ROOFS programme as housing recovery continues.

Claude maker Anthropic files for IPO

Preparing to go public

And the company behind the Claude artificial-intelligence assistant is preparing to go public.

Anthropic’s IPO filing has put the company at the centre of attention on Wall Street. Its tools compete in the fast-growing market for artificial intelligence used by individuals and businesses.

Reuters reported on October 26 that the filing helped lift AI-related stocks. The proposed listing would give public-market investors another way to invest in the sector.

Filing for an IPO is one step in the listing process. It does not mean the shares are already trading.

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