XPost: soc.culture.puerto-rico, alt.global-warming, sac.politics   
   XPost: soc.retirement   
   From: dharris@splcenter.org   
      
   WASHINGTON -- Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló announced Monday   
   he will privatize the island's crippled, broke and decrepit   
   electric energy authority, which he said has become a heavy   
   burden to residents and has been hampering economic recovery.   
      
   Rosselló painted a bleak picture of the Puerto Rico Electric   
   Power Authority – known as PREPA in English and by the acronym   
   AEE in Spanish – that has yet to be able to return to full power   
   generation four months since Hurricane Maria thrust the island   
   into darkness.   
      
   "The Electric Power Authority has become a heavy burden for our   
   people, who today are hostage to (its) poor service and high   
   cost. What we know today as the Electric Power Authority does   
   not work and cannot continue to operate like this," he said.   
      
   The system is 28 years older than the average electrical utility   
   in the United States, oil dependent, expensive and polluting,   
   Rosselló said in a televised speech.   
      
   The power authority has been a monopoly that practically   
   abandoned maintenance of the electrical system's infrastructure   
   over the past decade and has provided poor service at a high   
   cost as energy demand has dropped. Nearly a third of its   
   employees have left the authority over the past five years, most   
   of whom worked in maintenance and operation of the electric   
   system. It's $9 billion in debt.   
      
   "With that authority, we cannot face the risks of living in an   
   area of high vulnerability to catastrophic events, such as the   
   recent hurricanes," Rosselló said in his speech.   
      
   Rosselló said the planned transformation will begin in the next   
   few days with legislation, followed by a call for companies to   
   submit proposals and bids. It will finish with the hiring of   
   selected companies. That process should take about 18 months, he   
   said.   
      
   "We are taking a step towards a consumer-centered model, where   
   you can have options, an innovative model that is sustainable,   
   with advanced technology and resilient before the ravages of   
   nature," he told Puerto Ricans. "It should be financially   
   viable, at a lower cost to you. This will be the leap towards   
   the modernization of Puerto Rico."   
      
   The destructive winds of Hurricane Maria, clocked at 155 miles   
   per hour at landfall making it a strong Category 4 hurricane,   
   knocked out electricity to the entire island when it hit Sept.   
   20. It ripped down wires and toppled electrical posts, bending   
   some and slicing others in half.   
      
   Puerto Rico reported that as of Monday, the electrical authority   
   was at 84 percent power generation, with about 67.6 percent of   
   its customers with power. Since the hurricane, many residents   
   have had to rely on diesel-fueled generators, forcing them to   
   dole out cash for diesel fuel to keep them running.   
      
   Rosselló said the privatization will not only modernize Puerto   
   Rico's electrical grid but allow for reaching a goal of more   
   than 30 percent of renewable energy generation.   
      
   Federico de Jesús, a Washington political consultant who is a   
   former deputy director of the Puerto Rico Federal Affairs   
   Administration, said the privatization could be a positive for   
   Puerto Rico. He said the generation portion of the electrical   
   authority should be broken up so there is competition on the   
   generation side and the public retains the distribution side. It   
   should be decentralized, make as much use of renewable energy as   
   possible and have strong independent oversight from an energy   
   commission "that has enough teeth to do its job."   
      
   "Any new model should include micro grids and strong   
   infrastructure investment that makes Puerto Rico's economy more   
   competitive and the grid more resilient," de Jesús said. "If   
   that's the ultimate outcome, then the governor's decision will   
   have been the right one."   
      
   https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/puerto-rico-privatize-its-   
   public-electric-power-company-n840051   
      
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