NEW YORK – Amid reports that the restoration of electricity service in several regions of Puerto Rico impacted by Hurricane Fiona would take until the end of next week, members of the diaspora protested in Washington DC to demand the cancellation of the contract from LUMA Energy, a Canadian company in charge of supplying the service on the island and the process of repairing and maintaining the system.
Several members of organizations of Puerto Ricans in the United States such as Boricuas Unidos en la Diȧspora ( BUDPR), CASA, Power4Puerto Rico and the Puerto Rican Cultural Center gathered early Friday outside the Longworth House Office Building, property of the United States House of Representatives, to request that the island government’s contract with the foreign company through the Authority for Public-Private Partnerships is ruled out before 30 November bre (when it expires) and its clauses are not renewed.
A truck with the message “cancel LUMA” stood out in the area as part of the demonstration.
The protesters questioned that $13,000 million in funds allocated from the federal Congress for restore the power grid, only $195 million have been invested in work of this type.
“LUMA Energy is incompetent and is making money from the suffering of Puerto Ricans. We are here today to demand that Governor Pedro Pierluisi cancel the LUMA contract that is affecting our people and to demand that members of Congress and the general public unite in this campaign for justice for Puerto Ricans.” declared Edil Sepúlveda, co-founder and spokesperson for Boricuas Unidos en la Diaspora.
María del Carmen Gutiérrez, senior director of registration at CASA, stated that the island’s governor, Pedro Pierluisi, is not following up on the promise to audit the company.
“Before Fiona whipped, Governor Pierluisi declared that LUMA was on probation, but that he was in Puerto Rico to stay. We reject this failure to direct the processes for the well-being of our people and insist that the governor cancel the LUMA contract that has displaced Puerto Rican workers and has kept our people in the dark since before Fiona,” he said.
The activist questioned LUMA’s alleged threat to take legal action against the mayors who your account have activated municipal brigades to lift the network due to the delay in the company’s response.
The contract between the local authorities and LUMA Energy was finalized in early June of 2021 with the possibility of being renewed for about 15 years. Under the terms of the document, LUMA would be paid up to $ 125 million dollars per year.
A Noticel report that cites invoices from the consortium details that LUMA pays per hour $300 to its vice presidents, $300 to its “senior” directors ”, $275 to its directors, $210 to their ‘senior’ managers, $205 to your brigade leaders, $200 to their handlers, $200 to their managers, $195 to your field technicians, $160 to his “senior” analysts, $39 to your engineers, $39 to your field supervisors, $125 to your analysts and $30 to your administrative support staff.
All of Puerto Rico was without power after hurricane Fiona
Despite all the money that is disbursed to the company, all of Puerto Rico was left without electricity in the midst of the onslaught of Hurricane Fiona last 18 of September. This Thursday, LUMA Energy indicated that the soonest the Mayagüez and Ponce regions would reach 50% energization would be next Tuesday. But that the period could be extended until Thursday.
In a round table with some local media last week, Earl Austin, president of Quanta Services, one of the parent companies of LUMA Energy, acknowledged that cannot anticipate an exact date for the total restoration of service.
According to the spokesperson, who oversees the consortium’s emergency response efforts, the main problem that delays the restoration of service is the lack of access to certain areas affected by the hurricane.
“There will be pockets of difficult terrain and access (complicated). Access is the main problem, we are going to continue to receive resources for what I would consider a quick recovery in all areas. Transmission is not a problem, but access to distribution roads. We can fly to (the) transmission lines”, explained Austin.
However, the problem of blackouts occurs practically daily without the need for natural events to hit the island and despite of the seven increases in the electricity bill imposed by LUMA in a period of one year.
Pierluisi reluctant to cancel LUMA’s contract
After a demonstration against the company in mid-July, the governor insisted on his position that the relationship must be respected contract with the entity.
“It is not a question of endorsing (LUMA). It is a contract that binds the government of Puerto Rico, it was duly granted and in Puerto Rico contracts are respected. The Constitution requires that contractual relationships not be impaired. The word of the government is committed and right now LUMA has a function to do”, he considered.
Pierluisi added that several entities oversee the work of LUMA Energy as the Energy Bureau and the Authority for Public-Private Partnerships.
The governor has also stated that it is LUMA who supposedly decides the validity of the contract given the fact that it has not yet been managed to completely restructure the debt of the Electric Power Authority (PREPA).
Several requests before a committee of the House of Representatives against LUMA
Several requests have been sent to the Natural Resources Committee of the federal House of Representatives led by Raúl Grijalva to carry out hearings on the contracting of the consortium, its performance in the service to subscribers and the responsibility ability of the Fiscal Control Board in this process.
Last July, the organizations CAMBIO and BUDPR asked Grijalva to summon the Board -the entity that manages the island’s finances- as result of the PROMESA Law approved in Congress in 2016-, specifically on the work of LUMA in the process of privatization of the electricity network, the impact on rates and the restructuring of PREPA’s debt.
Precisely, this Wednesday, the Natural Resources Committee of the Chamber postponed, without a later date, a hearing that, focused on the energy crisis in Puerto Rico and the reconstruction processes after hurricanes María and Fiona.
Among the deponents, the governor of the island was expected; the director of the Central Office for Recovery, Reconstruction and Resilience (COR 3), Manuel Laboy; the executive director of the Electric Power Authority (PREPA), Josué Colón; and the president of LUMA Energy, Wayne Stensby, among others.
Additionally, members of the Energy and Commerce Committee of the federal Chamber demanded this week that the consortium detail the procedures it carried out before Fiona will impact the territory.
The politicians also questioned the seven rate increases and requested information on the amount of money that the Electric Power Authority (PREPA) has disbursed to LUMA Energy to improve the service , among other points.
2021
“We write with great concern about the island-wide power outage in Puerto Rico after from Hurricane Fiona, which left approximately 1.5 million of their customers without power,” the Democratic congressmen highlighted in a letter.
The Committee on Energy and Commerce is a legislative body that oversees the energy system in United States and its territories.
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After hurricane Fiona, congressmen in Washington DC and even the attorney general of NY are launched against LUMA Energy for delays in repairs to the electrical system in Puerto Rico