Groups oppose Puerto Rico utility move to raise power bill
The Solar + Energy Storage Association of Puerto Rico (SESA) and Solar United Neighbors (SUN) are urging the Puerto Rico Energy Bureau to reject LUMA Energy’s proposal to raise the residential fixed charge from about $4 to $15 a month starting Jan. 1. The request is part of an ongoing tariff review before the regulator.
“LUMA’s request represents an increase that almost quadruples the current charge, and an unjustified economic blow to households and families on the island,” said Javier Rúa-Jovet, SESA’s public policy director. “It is a request that must be stopped immediately and evaluated only through a complete evidentiary process before the Bureau.”
He added that approving the “increase without a rigorous evaluation of the socioeconomic impact of this charge goes against the mandate to which the Puerto Rico Energy Bureau is called to ensure fair and reasonable rates and to protect the consumer from unjustified increases.”
The groups say the higher charge would disproportionately affect low-income and economically vulnerable households.
“LUMA has not presented any analysis on how such a drastic increase would impact a population where more than half of the people depend on aid to cover basic needs,” said PJ Wilson, president of SESA. “Imposing an additional flat fee of $11 per month only serves to exacerbate the affordability crisis that already exists.”
He continued: “This drastic increase is just the beginning. LUMA is proposing to add six new charges to customers’ bills, raising the base rate from $4 a month to more than $40 (and likely more than $50). We urge the bureau to consider all of these charges together as part of the formal case of publicly participated tariffs, rather than approving changes now without any input from the public.”
The groups said the proposed increase — more than 350% — conflicts with the bureau’s long-standing principle of gradual changes in rate design, intended to ensure predictable, phased adjustments for consumers. They note that abrupt increases of this scale are rare among U.S. jurisdictions.
David Ortiz, senior director of SUN’s Puerto Rico program, said the change also runs counter to broader policy goals.
He said “the proposed increase goes against Puerto Rico’s efficiency, conservation and energy transition goals. Drastically raising the fixed charge weakens the incentives people have to save energy, to invest in energy efficiency and even to adopt technologies that contribute to consumption control.”
SESA and SUN recommend keeping the current fixed charge while the bureau evaluates potential phased adjustments, and they said any cost recovery should rely primarily on per-kilowatt-hour (kWh) rates that align with conservation and affordability goals.
Wilson also wrote about the issue on LinkedIn, noting that LUMA is proposing “to more than TRIPLE the base monthly interconnection charge from $4 / month to $14 / month for homes in Puerto Rico.”
“This would have drastic poverty-deepening impacts on low-income people, as has been analyzed extensively in thousands of utility dockets around the nation and strongly opposed by public consumer advocates, private consumer advocates like AARP, solar advocacy groups like Vote Solar and pretty much every entity ever involved in any rate proceeding ever, other than the utility themselves,” he wrote.
He added that the proposal may be incorporated into the broader rate case, with decisions expected before changes scheduled for July 1.
Wilson also tied the issue to the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority bankruptcy. He noted that a new 2 cent per kWh charge took effect Sept. 1 as a “provisional rate increase” to begin “collecting ratepayer money to make payments into the retired PREPA worker pension funds.”
“PREB at the time ordered LUMA to calculate how much it would be if it were to be a fixed monthly charge rather than a per-kWh charge, so LUMA’s recent filing on this was in compliance with that PREB order,” Wilson said.
