Puerto Rico Morning Brief Friday, October 2, 2026

Electricity bills in Puerto Rico have reached a record: a household using 800 kilowatt-hours now pays $270.86 a month, which is $113 more per month than since LUMA took over. For a family at that level of use, the difference is more than a hundred dollars every month on the electric bill alone.

The Resident Commissioner has put the blame on the government. He attributes an 18% increase in electricity bills to slow reconstruction of the system and to dependence on a single gas supplier. He proposed four relief measures.

Water rationing begins today, October 2, for several communities in Naranjito, where the Cedro reservoirs are running low. Residents in those communities will now receive service on a restricted basis, and the start of rationing is a change in daily routine for the households affected.

The AAA is awarding a 50% credit to approximately 37,000 customers in San Juan, Loíza and Carolina. San Juan Mayor Romero is demanding to know the criteria behind it and calls the credit "insufficient." His objection is twofold: he wants the basis on which customers were chosen made public, and he says the relief itself falls short. Customers in the three municipalities are the ones the credit reaches.

The drought picture is easing at the edges. Extreme drought now covers 9.3% of Puerto Rico’s territory, below 10%. In Thursday’s reading, Carraízo fell 4 centimeters to 40.47 meters, which keeps it in the seguridad band.

What remains open is mostly a matter of answers and timing. Mayor Romero has yet to receive the criteria he is asking for, and the Resident Commissioner’s four proposals have yet to be tested against the bills households are paying. Carraízo’s 19-day figure depends on the pace holding, and Naranjito’s rationing starts today with the Cedro reservoirs still low.