6:10 AM 11/24/2018 - PREPA Privatization Moving ForwardAs Legislature Updates Energy Policy - Topic: Energy

PREPA Privatization Moving ForwardAs Legislature Updates Energy Policy - https://mailchi.mp/sanjuanweeklypr/prepa-privatization-moving-forwardas-legislature-updates-energy-policy …pic.twitter.com/8RWM0n6UgT

By The STAR Staff

The bill that would create a new energy
public policy for Puerto Rico has not completed
the legislative process because the
House of Representatives requested additional
time to evaluate the measure.
The administration of Gov. Ricardo Rosselló
Nevares, however, said late last week it
will continue with the process to privatize the
Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA).
“We understand and respect the additional
time requested by the House of Representatives
to evaluate Senate Bill 1121, which adopts the
‘Puerto Rico Energy Policy Act,’” said Christian
Sobrino, director of the Puerto Rico Fiscal Agency
and Financing Authority, in a written statement
issued Friday. “The preparation of a public
energy policy for Puerto Rico is critical to our
future. We also want to take this opportunity to
thank the Senate Energy Committee for preparing
this bill as contemplated in Law 120-2018.”
“The governor has a clear vision of where
we are going in the transformation of what has
been an ineffi cient energy system, and we have
expressed to Senator Larry Seilhamer and Representative
Víctor Parés Otero that although
we will continue the privatization processes of
[PREPA], as authorized by Law 120-2018, we
will not formalize contracts that could be contrary
to the public policy established by the governor
or the cardinal principles of the bill being
drafted in the Legislature,” Sobrino said. “The
new energy system will be a less expensive one
that is resilient and safe for our people.”
The bill would eliminate the use of coal by
2027, as well as phase out bunker C oil, which
no longer complies with federal environmental
standards. The legislation does not address
PREPA’s $9 billion debt because the issue is in an
in-court, bankruptcy-like process, but the measure
“calls for the agreement with creditors to
be honored,”
Seilhamer said.
The bipartisan bill takes into account the
eff ects of climate change and would require the
island to aggressively transition to renewables.
It defi nes the responsibilities of all energy
providers, which would be regulated by the
Puerto Rico Energy Bureau (PREB).
The regulator will have operational and
fi scal autonomy through certain fees levied on
energy providers. The legislation
will grant PREB
the power to impose fi nes
for violations, which could
be charged as misdemeanors,
and to enforce the bill’s
mandates.
The legislation calls for
a new portfolio of renewable
energy, “which states that
by 2025 we will have 20 percent
of the energy coming
from renewables; by 2040
it will be 50 percent and by
2050 it will be 100 percent,”
Seilhamer said. “This goal
of renewable energy was
worked on with the executive
branch, and the governor
asked us to include 100
percent by 2050.”