LUMA Energy president Janisse Quiñones released a video on Thursday, October 22 expressing solidarity with Puerto Rico residents and businesses facing high electricity bills, while pointing to Genera PR and the Energy Bureau as the entities responsible for fuel-related rate adjustments. From October 1, the residential rate stands at 33.86 cents per kilowatt-hour, the highest at least since 2020, and small and medium commercial customers pay more than 36 cents per kWh.
The United Retailers Center estimates up to 12,000 businesses could close because of electricity costs. Quiñones said fuel used for generation is at extremely elevated levels and that generators must use costlier fuels because of the lack of reliable and efficient generation, raising production costs in Puerto Rico. She stressed that LUMA does not buy the fuel, does not generate electricity and does not decide these increases, and urged people to send comments and questions to the relevant forums: the government, the Energy Bureau and Genera.
She noted LUMA’s combined cost of operations and contractual compensation is about $1.1 billion this fiscal year, up roughly $180 million from before the April base rate review, which represented an increase of just over one cent per kWh.