Puerto Rico Senate President Thomas Rivera Schatz filed two bills aimed at easing electricity costs for customers and tapping additional generation sources to support the power system, according to a press release. Electricity currently costs 33.86 cents per kilowatt hour. Senate Resolution 657 proposes that the Puerto Rico government cover, from the General Fund, the cost of electric subsidies now reflected in customers’ bills, without eliminating or affecting the aid received by beneficiary sectors.
The resolution would identify the needed funds from the $904.2 million in contract savings reported by the government, without new taxes, and sets a 60-day period to identify the money and file the corresponding legislation. Governor Jenniffer González Colón revealed on October 30 that a similar proposal was submitted to the Financial Oversight Board; progress on those talks has not been made public.
Senate Bill 1636 would let hospitals, industries and businesses with their own generation systems feed surplus energy into the grid, especially at peak demand. It creates a separate category for this type of generation and leaves existing net-metering agreements for solar panel owners unchanged. Rivera Schatz said families need relief and businesses need energy costs that let them operate and create jobs, adding that subsidies should be kept for those who need them but their cost should not fall on other customers’ bills.