By The Star Staff
The New Progressive Party (NPP) minority leader in the island House of Representatives, Carlos “Johnny” Méndez Nuñez, along with NPP Rep. Víctor Parés Otero, chastised LUMA Energy and Genera Puerto Rico on Monday for their lack of “urgency” regarding the rehabilitation of the island’s electrical system, which could increase the cost of reconstruction, what Méndez called “the most barbaric in the modern history of the United States.”
The legislators also reiterated their rejection of any increase in the base rate for electric power service, which is being promoted by the Financial Oversight and Management Board.
“The letter sent by the Board to the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA), in relation to the Fiscal Plan, details a problem that we have pointed out for quite some time, and that is that neither LUMA nor Genera have shown a sense of urgency in the rehabilitation of the electrical grid,” Méndez said. “That is a failure before the people of Puerto Rico. That today we are talking about the fact that the approximately $16 billion allocated to the project is not enough is the best indication that these two private operators have dragged their feet.”
Parés, who represents District 4 of San Juan, noted that the oversight board “highlights in its letter what we already knew, that only $1 billion has been spent so far and that, due to increases in the price of materials and labor, among other factors, the reconstruction could exceed the federal funds allocated for it.”
“That is, those are resources that we do not have and that we should not seek because LUMA and Genera had metrics and it is apparent that the Board knows that they have not complied with them,” he said. “The question is why? These operators have the obligation to respond and I hope that they do, and do it expeditiously.”
The oversight board in its letter to PREPA points out that “the total federal funds obligated for the transformation of Puerto Rico’s energy system is approximately $16 billion.”
“Of that amount, only approximately $1 billion in projects have been completed, or are under construction,” the board said.
The letter also indicates that the oversight board intends to revise the base electricity rate.
“The 2017 base rate, according to the Board itself, has served to rehabilitate the finances of PREPA in view of the Title III process. It is not time to modify that rate platform, on the contrary,” Méndez said. “We must closely monitor the operations of LUMA and Genera to ensure that they comply with efficiency metrics that will result in rate savings, which could be passed on to the consumer.”
At the end of June, the oversight board sent another letter, this time to the Gov. Pedro Pierluisi Urrutia, in which it supports LUMA Energy’s request to the Puerto Rico Energy Bureau to evaluate increasing the base electricity rate.
Comments