The Puerto Rican Independence Party (PIP) delegation in Puerto Rico’s Senate has filed a bill to prohibit electricity service suspensions for vulnerable people who rely on medical equipment to stay alive or treat complex health conditions. Sponsored by Senators María de Lourdes Santiago Negrón and Adrián González Costa, the measure would protect customers enrolled in the energy-consumption subsidy for medical equipment who keep an active payment plan on an outstanding debt, so their service is not interrupted.
Santiago Negrón wants the law changed to remove the requirement to submit a new medical certification every year. She said: "The person who today has multiple sclerosis, or 'butterfly skin,' or who depends on peritoneal dialysis, is going to face those same conditions year after year. It makes no sense to demand a new certification every twelve months on pain of denying them the energy consumption credit."
González Costa said access to electricity is, for many people, literally a matter of life or death, and that patients who depend on electrical equipment, such as those with multiple sclerosis or certain skin conditions, are uniquely affected by the rate increases requested by Luma Energy and approved by the Energy Bureau. He noted that the Senate rejected, in the last session, an amendment he proposed to bar service suspension for any family current on its payment plan.
Having been turned down, he said, they now ask that at least people whose health depends on continuous service not have their power cut. Both legislators urged the Senate majority to pass the bill, which they called a measure of "social justice."