By The Star Staff
Governor-elect Jenniffer González Colón is creating a task force to analyze public energy policy options and replacing LUMA Energy with another private operator to manage the island’s electric power transmission and distribution (T&D) system.
“In the next few days, I will be putting together a working group to review Puerto Rico’s energy policy, because that will allow me to … see the changes we have to make, whether I want to have new natural gas generation plants or technology that is cleaner and more economical and that we can have faster,” González Colón said late last week. “I have to have a working group that helps me identify that.”
González Colón named the members of that task force on Sunday. She also said she would start analyzing who would replace LUMA Energy as the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority’s (PREPA) T&D system operator.
“In the same way, I am talking about the fact that we are going to end the LUMA contract, so I have to start to see who the next operators will be, and I want to have the input of people from different sectors who give me their ideas on how to start executing, managing that,” González Colón said Friday in response to questions from the press. “We would be doing that in [the second half of] December, so we can start in earnest then.”
The governor-elect added that addressing PREPA’s bankruptcy situation will be a priority. The utility and its bondholders have been in a stalemate for months on how to settle the dispute over PREPA’s $9 billion debt.
“That is one of the most critical issues I will face in the next four years, not only in terms of bankruptcy, generation, transmission, distribution, and recovery,” González Colón said. “I am staying on it; in fact, I have meetings with credit rating agencies next week, and I am very attentive to what [U.S. District] Judge [Laura] Taylor Swain is reviewing and recommending. I want to make room for that because that case is still alive. There are pending negotiations, and hopefully, an agreement can be reached before we take office.”
The governor-elect said she would not intervene in the negotiation with the creditors and would leave the matter in the hands of the oversight board.
“It is the Board that has to negotiate at this time,” González Colón said. “First, I am not yet the acting governor; that is on January 2. So I am going to allow both the Board and the court to handle the situation that is before them.”
Just as she did with the appointments to the Incoming Transition Committee, the governor-elect appointed people who are not from her own political party to the new task force.
They are:
1. Rafael Rojo, president of VRM Companies, a real estate development firm and former president of the Builders Association.
2. Federico Stubbe Jr., president of Prisa Group, a family development, construction and investment company with residential, hotel and entertainment projects in Puerto Rico and Florida. He is a member of several boards of organizations on the island and the U.S. mainland.
3. Frances Berríos, the first woman president of the Electrical Experts Association, and technical adviser for several engineering projects.
4. Eric Santiago, president of the Manufacturers Association, who has worked in medical device and pharmaceutical manufacturing; he was a member of the Advisory Board to the White House and the U.S. Department of Health on the Safety and Availability of Tissues and Blood (2021-2024).
5. CPA Juan Zaragoza Gómez, current at-large senator for the Popular Democratic Party (PDP); chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, Federal Affairs and the Financial Oversight and Management Board; former island Treasury secretary; current member of the government’s Incoming Transition Committee.
6. Engineer Josué Colón, executive director of PREPA, who has over 30 years of experience in the field of electrical engineering.
7. Engineer José Ortiz, former chairman of the PREPA governing board (2011 and 2013), who directed the Aqueduct and Sewer Authority (PRASA) (2007 to 2013) and was former chairman of the board of directors of the Infrastructure Financing Authority (2009 to 2012).
8. Ramón Luis Nieves, a former PDP senator who chaired the Senate Energy Committee, has a master’s degree (LLM) in energy law from Vermont Law & Graduate School. He is currently engaged in energy matters in his private practice.
9. Luis Bernal, executive director of the Energy Affairs Administration (2009-2012) and adviser on energy policies. He has worked in the local and federal public sector and the private sector.
10. Eli Díaz Atienza, an engineer, who during 2017 to 2020 was chairman of the PREPA governing board, executive director of PRASA and member of the Financial Oversight and Management Board as a representative of the government.
11. Juan Carlos Díaz Galarza, a project management professional who is a member of the Green Energy Trust and was executive director of the Energy Affairs Administration (2011-2013).
12. Engineer Francisco E. López García, who has vast experience in the production and operation of fossil fuel power plants and is an expert in energy systems and planning.
The group will begin work immediately, although its structure, duties and responsibilities will be contained in one of the first executive orders that González Colón signs when she enters office as governor after her swearing-in on Jan. 2.
Richard Mildner
While I don't consider myself a supporter of Mrs. Gonzales In do believe that this is a smart political decision on her part. Despite making the replacement of Luma a key campaign issue she was no doubt aware that such an action is practically impossible. Deferring to a working group will allow her to accept this reality when it is the conclusion drawn by the group after months of meetings on the subject. The group will find that terminating the Luma contract will cost tens of millions of dollars in penalties that would be better spent on the system itself. Even if that difficult decision was made how can could we ever be certain that Luma's replacement w…
I believe we can call Mrs. Gonzalez' "initiative" a step in the right direction to attempt to at least ameliorate the pain LUMA had inflicted on PR's people for 3 years under the watch of the NPP; the same political party that the governor-elect represented in Washington DC for 8 years and the governor's candidate in the last national elections. Perhaps when she said that is "putting together a working group to review Puerto Rico’s energy policy, because that will allow me to … see the changes we have to make, whether I want to have new natural gas generation plants or technology that is cleaner and more economical and that we can have faster,” we should ask where she…