The Popular Democratic Party (PPD) delegation in Puerto Rico’s Senate presented several proposals to ease the rise in electricity bills, including using a Fund for emergencies that, they say, has enough money. Senator Luis Javier Hernández Ortiz noted that on September 30 the Energy Bureau approved an 18.5% increase, moving the rate from 28.57 to 33.85 cents per kilowatt-hour, and called it "an emergency."
Senator Marially González Huertas cited Energy Bureau figures: a residential customer using 800 kWh will pay $42.27 more a month, from $228.59 to about $270.86; a small business $63.42 more; a mid-size commercial or industrial customer $4,851 more; a large one up to $29,108 more. The increase follows a LUMA request on the fuel purchase clause: LUMA asked to raise it from 11.40 to 18.07 cents and the Bureau approved 17.35.
González said the Bureau projects another 2.09-cent rise (about $82.5 million) because generating units are out of service, and the Centro Unido de Detallistas projects over 12,000 small and medium businesses could close and about 70,000 jobs are at risk. Senator Josian Santiago Rivera presented Joint Resolution 229, reassigning $131,650,334.94 from the Emergency Reserve Fund to the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA; AEE in Spanish), the uncovered fuel cost for June to August 2026 ($627.1 million in fuel versus $486.4 million billed, minus a $9 million credit).
He said the Fund could hold about $1.2 billion, so the amount is roughly 11% of it. Senator Ada Álvarez Conde presented Senate Bill 1599 to amend the Emergency Fund law so it can be used to offset quarterly fuel adjustments, keeping the requirement of an emergency declaration by the governor and a request from the Office of Management and Budget to the Oversight Board.
She noted the Board authorized its use for the drought in August. Former Senate president José Luis Dalmau Santiago presented Concurrent Resolution 22, urging Governor Jenniffer González to amend the energy emergency executive orders to include rate impacts.