The Energy Negotiator approves an increase in the electricity bill that takes effect immediately

the Puerto Rico Energy Negotiation approved 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 Electricity Authority (AEE), 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.

The Energy Negotiator approved the increase on 31 December. in one resolution and order of the regulatory body, of which The New Day obtained copy, it is explained that the increase responds to the reconciliation of the adjustment clauses for the purchase of fuel and energy for the period from September to November 2020.

In other words, the EEA underestimated its spending between September and November 2020, so it will now recover the money by charging its subscribers.

“The Energy Negotiator understood that the costs presented to us by the Authority for September, October and November were reasonable and reconciliation could be made,” said Associate Commissioner Angel Rivera de la Cruz in an interview with him. diary.

For its part, the consumer representative in the EEA Governing Board, Tomás Torres, explained that the increase approved by the Energy Negotiator 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.

“As (the price of a barrel of oil) normalizes globally, little by little (the electricity bill) goes up, but it can’t be a cantazo increase,” Torres said in the remember that at the beginning of the pandemic the cost of the kWh was at 22 cents.

By law, the EEA must submit to the Energy Negotiator on a quarterly basis its projections of income and expenditure adjusted to the price of a barrel of oil. The regulatory body reconciles the figures submitted by the EEA. The process allows, for example, that if the difference between the estimated and the actual costs of fuel and energy purchase exceeds $ 20 million, the factors for the remainder of the quarter can be assessed and computed again.

In its resolution of 31 December, the Energy Negotiation suspended the reconciliation of fuel and energy purchase adjustment clauses for June, July and August 2020, due to “multiple inconsistencies” between the costs that the EEA went allege would have incurred and the market price for that period. The EEA had to deliver a new reconciliation last Friday, January 15th.

Commissioner Rivera de la Creu indicated that the EEA requested additional time, until tomorrow, Wednesday, at noon, to deliver the required data, after which the negotiator will be able to reconcile.

In the face of this, Torres asked the Energy negotiator to stop the increase approved for January, February and March. “No increase is justified until the problems with the fuel inventory in the Electricity Authority are clarified and resolved,” he delimited.