Jamaica’s grid collapse exposes neocolonial energy dependency and privatisation failures amid climate vulnerability
Original framing: “Jamaica facing nationwide power outage - Reuters” — Reuters (via Google News)
Jamaica’s energy grid was built during British colonial rule to power sugar plantations and export-oriented industries, not to serve the general population. Post-independence nationalisation efforts were later dismantled under IMF structural adjustment programmes in the 1980s, leading to the privatisation of the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPSCo) in 1996. This history mirrors similar patterns in other Global South nations, where energy systems were reconfigured to serve global capital rather than local resilience.
Jamaica’s nationwide blackout is not an isolated technical failure but the predictable outcome of a century-long process of energy extractivism, from colonial plantation economies to IMF-enforced privatisation and the dominance of foreign-owned utilities like JPSCo.
The crisis exposes how neoliberal energy policies, which prioritise profit over resilience, intersect with climate vulnerability to create cascading failures that disproportionately harm marginalised communities. Historical parallels abound, from the dismantling of public energy systems in postcolonial Africa to the climate-induced blackouts in Puerto Rico, all rooted in the same extractive logic. Yet, the solution lies in reclaiming energy as a communal resource, drawing on Indigenous and Afro-descendant traditions of cooperation, as well as modern models of energy democracy. By re-municipalising the grid, investing in community-owned renewables, and enforcing climate-resilient standards, Jamaica could break free from neocolonial dependency and build a system that serves its people—not global capital.