By The Star Staff
A New Progressive Party lawmaker asked the Puerto Rico Energy Bureau on Thursday to begin the search for a new private operator of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority’s (PREPA) grid.
Currently, LUMA Energy is the private operator of PREPA’s transmission and distribution system.
District 4 Rep. Víctor Parés Otero said he supports a proposal from Resident Commissioner Jenniffer González Colón to look for another private operator.
The lawmaker also pointed out that Act 17 of 2019, better known as the “Puerto Rico Energy Public Policy Law” gives the Energy Bureau the responsibility of carrying out a study on the feasibility and convenience of establishing an electricity market on the island in free competition and establishes the date of June 30, 2025 to complete it and present a report on the results to the Legislative Assembly and the governor.
“This morning, our next governor [González Colón] made it clear that changes are coming in January regarding the rehabilitation and maintenance of the energy transmission and distribution network, opening the door to look for another private operator,” . We fully support this initiative, vital for the reconstruction and maintenance of Puerto Rico’s energy platform,” Parés Otero said in a written statement.
“We want to know the status of that report, which, due to the complexity of the system, should have already begun,” he added. “We also request that it be ready before June of next year.”
“The opening to a free and competitive market must be a priority,” Parés Otero continued. “Law 17-2019 establishes this mechanism and makes possible the path to obtain another private operator for the transmission and distribution network. We do not want to return to the past, nobody wants that; what we all want is for the system to improve, adapted to our reality and the times, and that is why it is time to have this report from the Bureau to look for real options.”
González Colón responds to governor’s remarks on energy service ‘headache’
Also on Thursday, amid the back-and-forth between LUMA Energy and Genera PR, the private operator of the island’s legacy power plants, over who should shoulder the blame for recent generation breakdowns, González Colón responded to statements by Gov. Pedro Pierluisi Urrutia about the promises to cancel the LUMA Energy contract, pointing out that for defending the contract, he lost the primary against her.
“The governor makes those statements and that is why he lost the primary,” she said at a press conference. “He had four years to work on the energy situation and it was never audited.”
González Colón reiterated that the audit of the LUMA contract must be a priority.
“That audit has to be strict from day one and give it the tools in law to be able to protect the people of Puerto Rico,” she added.
The candidate also said that, if she becomes governor, she will look for alternatives such as the diversification of energy generation and does not rule out the possibility of looking for a new private operator.
“We would have to start looking for a second operator because we cannot, if the situation leads us to cancel that contract, go back,” González Colón said.
A day earlier, in response to questions from the press, the governor said whoever becomes governor with the recipe to straighten out the situation of the electrical service in Puerto Rico overnight is lying and will look bad in front of the people.
“We are going to go through this electoral process and I want to see the one who prevails in January,” Pierluisi said Wednesday. “Then they are going to have the same boring situation and the same headache that I have had and that all the people of Puerto Rico have had, because this is not resolved overnight…”
“So my recommendation,” the governor added, “to those who are in the [governor’s] race is to be careful with what they promise because this is not easy in the least, it is very difficult and it will take years to improve our system and what they have to do, if at the time they will have to roll up their sleeves as I have rolled them up in these years, to see if they get results.”
The NPP/PDP and their candidates for governor had plenty of time, resources and opportunities to take care of the debacle that LUMA/Genera represent to PR's people, industry, social services and credibility. Both individuals had been members of the ruling parties since the beginning of the 2000; while the president of PDP started his political career in 2005, the Resident Commissioner started her in 2002. LUMA initiated operations on the country in 2021 and Genera PR in 2023 which means that both candidates were members of the team that reviewed and agreed to the contracts given to both companies.
Interesting is the fact that the FOMB reviewed LUMA and Genera's contracts. Much more interesting is the fact that in a letter…