The Electrical and Irrigation Industry Workers Union (Utier) told the Puerto Rico Supreme Court that it can help the court ensure the management and operation of the island’s power grid returns to public hands. In a request to appear as amicus curiae in the government’s lawsuit seeking to cancel the contract with LUMA Energy, the union said the T&D OMA (the operation and maintenance agreement) contemplates returning functions to the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA (AEE), PREPA), identified as the Owner.
Utier cited Section 4.9(a)(ii) of the supplemental agreement, which modified Section 16.1 of the OMA to make automatic termination of the supplemental agreement a trigger for the start of a transition, with operation returning to PREPA or a successor operator. LUMA and Governor Jenniffer González Colón’s administration have disputed since late last year the validity of the extension of the supplemental agreement.
LUMA says its pact, signed in mid-2020 and extended indefinitely by a November 30, 2022 letter, is valid, and that cancellation would cost at least $1.3 billion, including $726 million in mandatory payments. The government says the extension was not done properly and PREPA would not have to pay that sum. In its filing on Friday, October 9, Utier said the OMA requires LUMA to transfer financial records, equipment and assets.
It said the transition need not start from scratch, citing the 1,800 employees PREPA still has, and that LUMA would keep meeting its obligations while the new management gradually takes over.