Zapata said the project would have continued if it had not been made public
Zapata described a hostile environment where she felt like she was in the minority
Why this matters: The controversy surrounding the Power Expectations contract affects the island’s energy generation and the public’s trust in the government’s handling of the power grid.
In Puerto Rico, former Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA; AEE in Spanish) director Mary Carmen Zapata reacted to recent statements by Energy czar Josué Colón regarding the Power Expectations generation contract. Zapata claimed Colón 'failed to tell the truth' about the contract in an interview with El Nuevo Día. According to Zapata, the project would have continued if it had not been made public.
Zapata also described a hostile environment where she felt like she was in the minority. This came out in an interview with journalist Bárbara Figueroa Rosa on the program Los Datos Son Los Datos.
In context (787daily, from public data)
0.2%of LUMA customers without power
42-day average 0.3% · worst 1.8%, Sep 30
LUMA's portal showed 0.2% of customers out at 6:06 AM AST on Oct 18, 2026. Across the 42 days 787daily has tracked it, the daily average is 0.3% and the worst was 1.8% on Sep 30, 2026.
Worst of LUMA's five full years, up from 26.3 hours the year before
Customers averaged 28.4 hours without power in the fiscal year that ended in June 2026, the worst of the five full years LUMA has run the grid and up from 26.3 hours the year before.
LUMA operates the transmission and distribution system.