Gov. Ricardo Rosselló did not commit Friday to bring the price of electricity to 15 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh) as requested by Puerto Rico’s industrial and manufacturing sector, also insisting that the regulator must be a key component in efforts to control the electricity price.
Rosselló also said the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) privatization bill is only the first step in the transformation of the public corporation. The end goal, he said is a modern and efficient system and privitization is a mechanism to get there.
His remarks at the Puerto Rico Manufacturers Association Caucus suggested that changes in PREPA will take longer than originally established. The governor has said the power company’s transformation should take 18 months.
Rosselló said he will try to bring the kWh “to less than 20 cents” but did not promise to try to lower the price to 15 cents a kWh as the private sector requests.
He also said that before the request for proposals (RFP) to sell the utility is issued, the fiscal plan, which will contain information on the transformation process, must first be certified. Completion of the integrated resource plan, which is being re-evaluated, is also necessary.
