Puerto Rico’s water, power utilities to offer services via appointment
The Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority (PRASA) and the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) announced separately over the weekend that they will begin offering expanded customer service alternatives, including scheduling appointments prior to visiting an office.
PRASA Executive President Doriel Pagán-Crespo said that effective today, customers will be able to get virtual appointments to complete their transactions with the utility, or at commercial offices by appointment.
“Aware of the need to maintain social distance, but at the same time bringing our services closer to subscribers, we have established two direct service alternatives, which join the services already available of our virtual office and call systems,” she said.
The water utility will have available its Turno Virtual system Monday through Friday, from 7:40 a.m. until 3 p.m. PRASA customers will need to provide their name and telephone number, so a customer service representative can call them to inform them of the documents they will need to complete their transaction.
If instead, the subscriber wishes to visit the commercial office, they must select the Office Appointment option, which requires having all of the needed documents on hand when making the appointment and arriving 15-20 minutes prior to the appointment at the selected commercial office. Failing to arrive within that window will forfeit the appointment and customes will have to set up a new one, the utility official explained.
“These appointment systems are part of prevention efforts for employees and visitors, as well as alternatives to facilitate service to clients who want to open new accounts, make service transfers, make invoice claims, get certifications, shut down services, and provide a service interruption report, among others,” Pagán-Crespo said.
Meanwhile, PREPA also announced the start of its “Mi Cita” online appointment service for customers needing to reach the utility. Customers may also call 787-521-3434.
PREPA’s commercial offices have been closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Once the government made progress in the reopening process, we identified an appropriate mechanism so that clients may visit the commercial offices by appointment and conduct procedures related to their account, observing the security and prevention measures, to prevent contagion,” the power company said in a statement.
So like PRASA, PREPA will start offering appointments today for service at its 21 commercial offices islandwide. Customers may choose the date and time when they will visit the office and the services they need, including: applying for new service; payment plans; net metering billing; damaged equipment claims; a final refund for closed accounts, among others.
As part of the notification process, PREPA’s system issues confirmations, reminders and/or cancellations via email and text message.
Thank you for the article! I called to make an appointment with AEE and the closest they had was weeks away. Thanks to the link in the article I was able to search multiple locations and find a much sooner appointment. Gracias!