Puerto Rico Morning Brief Wednesday, October 28, 2026

Puerto Rico’s government is not considering using the Emergency Fund to ease rising electricity costs, said Jean Peña Payano, La Fortaleza’s secretary of Public Affairs, on Tuesday, October 27. Governor Jenniffer González has not ruled out any alternative, Peña said. Tapping the fund would require authorization from the Oversight Board.

LUMA Energy projected blackouts for more than 100,000 subscribers on Tuesday night, October 27. The company forecast a deficit of more than 300 MW at the early-evening demand peak if no generator recovered, and about 80,000 subscribers were already without power at 5:00 PM. LUMA spokesman Hugo Sorrentini said the projected reserve would be only 20 MW even if Genera PR restored San Juan 5 and raised Aguirre 2 capacity, with added injections from residential battery systems.

Puerto Rico’s Senate approved House Bill 133, the Payment Plans Act to Guarantee the Continuity of Essential Services. The bill is meant to make it easier for residential customers to pay debts for drinking water and electricity. Under it, monthly installments could not exceed 5% of family income. Customers who join a plan would make an initial payment of 5% to 20% of the accumulated debt, with the rest spread over monthly installments under the terms of the agreement.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) obligated $753,617.84 for Puerto Rico projects covering infrastructure, public facilities, security and disaster-risk mitigation, the office of Governor Jenniffer González announced. The total includes $188,717.84 in Public Assistance projects tied to hurricanes María and Fiona. The other $564,900 comes from the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program for the Mariana Flood Control Project, a flood-control and coastal stabilization effort with 100 percent federal participation.

Life expectancy at birth in Puerto Rico in 2023 was 84.1 years for women and 76.6 years for men, according to a study published by the Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics. The overall figure was 80.4 years. The figures appear in a special publication on life tables for the island’s population, produced with the Statistical Analysis and Publications Division of the Planning and Development Office of the Department of Health. The data came from the Census Bureau and from death records held by the Planning and Development Office, which receives them from the Demographic Registry, both within the Department of Health.

The price of liquefied gas will rise in Puerto Rico in early November, said Ramón García, president of Empire Gas, in an interview on WKAQ 580 on Tuesday, October 27. The increase will be $8 to $10 for a 100-pound cylinder, whose price already exceeded $100.