The transformation and financial restructuring of Puerto Rico’s bankrupt electric power authority have generated more than $440 million in consulting contracts during the last seven years and could cost island residents more than $1 billion before completion, according to a study released by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis. The IEEFA study found […]
An objective analysis of the award of a 15-year privatization contract for Puerto Rico’s electrical system to LUMA Energy raises numerous red flags about the integrity of the process. LUMA is scheduled to take over the non-generation functions of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) on June 1, including transmission, distribution, billing, customer service, […]
The devastation caused by Hurricane María in 2017 highlighted Puerto Rico’s “antiquated, expensive and fossil fuel-dependent” electricity grid, providing the Biden administration with an historic opportunity to transform a vital part of the island’s economy. The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) recommends in a new policy brief that the administration battle entrenched interests that […]
A major contract signed with the LUMA Energy consortium may prevent Puerto Rico from building a safe, reliable and resilient electrical system, according to a new report from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA). The deal to operate the island’s grid came in the wake of a series of devastating 2017 hurricanes and amounts […]
In testimony submitted to the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources, Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA)’s Director of Finance Tom Sanzillo warned of “significant problems” with a recent agreement for LUMA Energy to take over transmission and distribution (T&D) of Puerto Rico’s electric power grid. The agreement that the government announced in June […]
Federal regulators have asked the operator of a scandal-plagued Puerto Rico energy project to explain why they didn’t seek permission to build and operate a liquid natural gas terminal (LNG) adjacent to the island’s first major power project since a 2017 hurricane devastated the island’s electrical grid. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) last week […]
A lucrative contract to deliver natural gas to a Puerto Rico power generation plant was awarded through a process plagued by irregularities that provided unfair advantages to a company with limited experience on the island, according to a report co‑authored by Tom Sanzillo of the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) and Ingrid […]
A thorough and data-packed recent report on the potential impact of Puerto Rico’s PREPA debt restructuring plan proves what should be obvious: electricity prices that are already unaffordable will keep rising for the foreseeable future to pay for outstanding debt. The deal does not work for the people of Puerto Rico, will hurt economic recovery, and won’t […]
Puerto Rico is overhauling its electrical power system: evaluating its integrated resource plan (IRP), approving wheeling regulations, acquiring a concessionaire for transmission and distribution, and setting up private management of power generation plants, among other measures that will affect the island’s electrical system for years to come. Unfortunately, a scattershot approach is being taken to […]
The debt restructuring agreement reached between the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) and its creditors, which is currently pending before a bankruptcy judge, will force utility customers to pay “largely unspecified, apparently unlimited, and wholly unchecked professional fees and expenses.” That is the finding of an independent fee examiner hired by the bankruptcy court […]
The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) sent a letter to Puerto Rico’s Legislative Assembly, urging representatives to reject the proposed Restructuring Support Agreement for the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority. In the letter, the firm also suggested the pursuit of more affordable, sustainable and transparent options for financing and managing the Commonwealth’s […]
The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority will to provide CAMBIO and the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis complete access to its electrical system data, the nonprofits announced. The organizations had requested the information to carry out a modeling study based on distributed renewable energy sources. Because the data contains confidential information on critical […]
Puerto Rico’s new governor, Wanda Vázquez, has been trying to distance herself from the previous Rosselló administration. For example, she recently suspended a $450,000 grid reconstruction contract that was subsequently cancelled by the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA). But hundreds of millions of dollars in natural gas infrastructure contracts continue to move forward unchallenged. […]
The Puerto Rican legislature will soon consider a debt restructuring deal for Puerto Rico’s Electric Power Authority (PREPA) that is unaffordable and risks jeopardizing the island’s economic recovery, according to a report released today by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA). The report, “Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority debt restructuring: A weak […]
Puerto Rico bond insurers this month filed suit against eight well-known investment banks (UBS, Citi, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan Securities, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, RBC and Santander) for failing to perform proper diligence on Commonwealth bonds worth approximately $11 billion. The train of neglect ran from 2001 to 2015 and included revenue and expenditure falsification […]
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