Office Of Utilities Regulation (our)

What Office Of Utilities Regulation (our) does

The Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) is the statutory regulatory body for Jamaica's electricity, telecommunications, and water and sewerage sectors, established in 1995 and headquartered at 36 Trafalgar Road, Kingston. It oversees four major utility providers — Jamaica Public Service Company Ltd. (JPS), National Water Commission (NWC), Digicel Jamaica, and Flow Jamaica — and serves the broader Jamaican public as end consumers of regulated services. The Office operates under Jamaican law and currently chairs the Organisation of Caribbean Utility Regulators (OOCUR).

OUR's core functions include setting and enforcing Guaranteed and Overall Service Standards, approving tariff adjustments, licensing utility operators, handling consumer appeals and complaints, allocating telecommunications numbering plans, and approving insurance and disaster-fund mechanisms for hurricane preparedness. Its operational infrastructure comprises an online consumer portal for appeals submission, a toll-free hotline (888 CALL OUR), an annual Mystery Shopping Study evaluating utility customer service across call centres, web chat, and social channels, and oversight of the Jamaica Internet Exchange Point (JAIXP). The organisation is structured across eight departments, including Regulation, Policy, Monitoring and Enforcement; Legal; Information Technology & Risk; Consumer & Public Affairs; Finance; and Internal Audit. It is led by Director-General Ansord E. Hewitt with Deputy Directors-General Evona Channer, Cedric Wilson, and Cherly Lewis, and is ISO 9001:2008 certified since 2015.

OUR is a non-profit statutory body funded through Government of Jamaica appropriations and does not charge consumers for regulatory services. Strategic activity in 2025–2026 has centred on climate resilience (US$106.6 million parametric insurance approval for JPS, US$40.7 million Electricity Disaster Fund withdrawal after Hurricane Melissa), consumer protection (inaugural Service Level Agreement with Digicel, $13.7 million secured for customers in the first nine months of 2025), and regional leadership (hosting the 20th OOCUR Annual Conference and chairing the regional body). Recent regulatory enforcement has included establishing an internal team to oversee JPS's investigation of the June 2026 islandwide blackout.

Name

Office Of Utilities Regulation (our)

Legal name

Office of Utilities Regulation

Website

https://www.our.org.jm

Company type

Private

Founded year

1995

Operating status

Operating

Short description

The Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) is Jamaica's statutory regulator for electricity, telecommunications, and water/sewerage utilities, overseeing four major providers — JPS, NWC, Digicel, and Flow — and serving Jamaican consumers through tariff approvals, service standards enforcement, and complaint resolution.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Utility Regulation

NAICS

Regulation and Administration of Communications, Electric, Gas, and Other Utilities (92613), Regulation and Administration of Communications, Electric, Gas, and Other Utilities (926130), Administration of Environmental Quality Programs (9241), Water, Sewage and Other Systems (2213)

SIC

Electric, Gas & Sanitary Services (4900), Water Supply (4941)

akta.pro primary industry

Energy, Utilities & Natural Resources Regulators (BPAIAOAJ)

akta.pro secondary industries

Regulatory Compliance Monitoring & Reporting (SDWA/CWA/NPDES, permits, audits) (EUANAJAA), Transmission Reliability, Resilience & Emergency Restoration (NERC/ENTSO-E Compliance) (EUADAAAO), Drinking Water Quality & Safe Water Regulatory Authorities (HLAJAFAD)

Keywords

• Utility sector regulation
• Electricity tariff oversight
• Telecommunications licensing
• Consumer protection services
• Water sewerage regulation

Headquarters

HQ city

Kingston

HQ country

Jamaica

HQ region

Latin America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Others

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

OUR regulates Jamaica's electricity, telecommunications, and water/sewerage sectors by setting service standards, approving tariffs, licensing providers, handling consumer complaints and appeals, and administering disaster funds. It also operates the Jamaica Internet Exchange Point (JAIXP) to improve local internet infrastructure resilience and conducts annual mystery shopping studies of utility providers.

Product overview

The Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) is Jamaica's independent regulatory body for the electricity, telecommunications, and water/sewerage sectors. It is not a commercial product company but rather a government regulatory agency that sets standards, handles consumer complaints and appeals, monitors utility provider performance through mystery shopping studies, and maintains sector-specific regulations and licensing. The organization also oversees the Jamaica Internet Exchange Point (JAIXP) for internet infrastructure resilience and manages various consumer protection initiatives including guaranteed and overall standards for utility services.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Utility Regulation Services

Quantifiable outcome

• Consumer secured $13,718,382.88 through OUR interventions in first nine months of 2025
• +2 more outcomes

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Organisation of Caribbean Utility Regulators (OOCUR)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 24 April 2026OUR currently chairs OOCUR and hosted the 20th Annual OOCUR Conference (April 27 - May 1, 2026) in Trelawny, Jamaica. The conference brings together regional utility regulators, providers, and industry experts to discuss climate resilience, digital transformation, and utility regulation best practices. Jamaica previously hosted the OOCUR Conference in 2016.
• Digicel Jamaica LimitedcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 4 March 2026OUR and Digicel signed a Service Level Agreement (SLA) on March 4, 2026 establishing clear timelines, responsibilities, and performance standards for handling customer complaints. The SLA includes specific response timeframes: acknowledgement within 2 working days, routine complaints resolved within 30 working days, and complex complaints within 40 working days.
• Caribbean Network Operators Group (CaribNOG)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 25 February 2026OUR partnered with CaribNOG to host the 31st CaribNOG Forum 2026 (April 14-16) at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel. The partnership supports the relaunch of the Jamaica Internet Exchange Point (JAIXP) and focuses on strengthening Caribbean digital infrastructure resilience. OUR's Director-General Ansord Hewitt emphasized the importance of this collaboration following hurricane damage to telecom networks.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• National Regulatory Authority (NRA) of Trinidad and Tobago: Caribbean national utility regulator with multi-sector mandate similar to OUR. Directly comparable in scope (electricity, telecoms, water) and small-island regulatory context.
• Barbados Fair Trading Commission (FTC): Caribbean regulator handling consumer protection and utility oversight. Comparable to OUR in regional context and combined consumer-protection-plus-utility-regulation mandate.
• Public Utilities Commission of Belize: Belize's national utility regulator covering electricity, water, and telecoms. Closely comparable to OUR in mandate, Caribbean geography, and small-population regulatory scale.
• Office of the Utility Regulator (OUR) Cayman Islands: Cayman's utility regulator covering electricity, water, and telecoms. Almost identical mandate and Caribbean regulatory context to Jamaica's OUR.

Broad incumbents

• Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC): US federal regulator for interstate electricity transmission, natural gas, and hydropower. Comparable to OUR's electricity sector oversight but at a vastly larger jurisdictional and operational scale.
• Australian Energy Regulator (AER): Australia's national energy market regulator covering electricity and gas. Comparable regulatory function to OUR's electricity sector work, though at much larger scale and within a wholesale market framework.
• Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem): UK's independent energy regulator with statutory powers over electricity and gas markets. Comparable to OUR as a sector-specific utility regulator, though at much larger scale and with broader market design responsibilities.

Others

• Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) / World Bank Energy Sector Management Assistance Program: Multilateral programs advising developing-country utility regulators on best practices. Adjacent ecosystem player influencing regulators like OUR through technical assistance and benchmarking frameworks.
• Caribbean Utilities Company (CUC): Cayman Islands electricity provider regulated by the Office of the Utility Regulator. Comparable to JPS in our dataset — a regulated utility within a similar Caribbean regulatory environment.
• Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS): Jamaica's primary electricity provider regulated by OUR. Included as a regulatory counterpart rather than a peer — illustrates the regulated entity rather than a comparable regulator.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/theourja
• Facebookfacebook.com/116887138331350/photos_stream

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Office Of Utilities Regulation (our)