Pedro Pierluisi Urrutia justifies the increase in the electricity bill

Governor Pedro Pierluisi Urrutia on Thursday justified an increase in the electricity tariff approved by the Puerto Rico Energy Negotiation, arguing that it responds to a rise in “the cost per barrel of oil.”

“As governor, I will definitely not endorse or support any increase in the electricity bill due to administrative inefficiencies or failures in the Electricity Authority. However, this adjustment arises as a consequence that the cost in the barrel of oil has been rising, similar to what happens with the cost of gasoline “, Has argued in written statements.

The first executive stated that “Puerto Rico’s Public Energy Policy Act 17-2019 states that our main goal is to transform our electrical system so that we reduce our dependence on fossil fuels whose costs we cannot control and are harmful to The transformation of the Electricity Authority (AEE) is essential to achieve this goal.At the same time Law 57-2014 create the Puerto Rico Energy Negotiation as an independent body to regulate, supervise and make comply with the Government of Puerto Rico’s public energy policy. “

Pierluisi noted that the Energy Negotiator, independently, is the body responsible for evaluating the information submitted to it by the EEA in relation to reconciliations for fuel purchases and energy purchases every three months.

“During the summer, as a result of this reconciliation and the lowering of the cost of fuel, the Negotiator made this reconciliation and precisely lowered the light by about 17 cents per kilowatt hour. Negotiated processes are public, as well as the resolutions and orders it issues, complying with the transparency required by law in these processes, ”he said.

the Energy Negotiation approved on December 31 an increase of 0.81 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh) in the electricity bill to be implemented during the first quarter of the year (January to March).

For a non-subsidized residential customer of the EEA, with an average consumption of 800 kWh per month, the impact will be an additional $ 6.52 or 4.7% with respect to the last quarter of 2020 (October to December). Of the $ 138.77 he paid then, he will now pay $ 145.29. The cost of the kWh rose from 17.3 to 18.1 cents.

one resolution and order of the regulatory body, of which The New Day obtained copy, says the rise responds to the reconciliation of fuel and energy purchase adjustment clauses for the period September to November 2020.

The consumer representative in the EEA Governing Board, Tomás Torres, validated that the increase responds to the fact that the price of a barrel of oil “has been rising” after its sharp fall in April due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, Torres pointed out in a previous interview with this medium that “No increase is justified until the problems with the fuel inventory in the Electricity Authority are clarified and resolved,” and asked the Energy Negotiator to stop the approved rise for January, February and March.

The Puerto Rican Senate will discuss in a session this Thursday a legislative measure with which the body must express its rejection of the increase in the electricity tariff announced by the Energy Negotiator.

The measure will also ask the Department of Justice to investigate the possibility of illegal conduct during the approval of the rise, the spokesman for the majority of the upper house has reported, Javier Aponte Dalmau.