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There is no doubt that LUMA EnergyThe company responsible for the island’s energy transmission and distribution system is one of the most important campaign issues for all candidates in the upcoming elections. November elections. Yet, gubernatorial candidates face the most complex challenge ahead of the election: developing an effective strategy to manage the private companies responsible for our electricity grid.
arrive Jorge Kohlbergpolitical analyst and former representative People’s Democratic Party (PPD), No candidate’s proposal was complete enough to address the people.
“(…) I would tell you, what I’ve heard so far, it seems to me that public policy, one is designed to control, the other is designed to cancel, well, either one can be the right decision. But I think the fundamental answer, how are we going to do it the next day? Who is responsible? has not been studied in depth, so I think when people make public policy decisions, “all the cards have to be taken off the table,” the former representative said.
Currently, all candidates for governor have proposed alternative plans for dealing with the contract issue. brightness. PPD gubernatorial candidate Jesus Manuel Ortiz Recommends cancelling the contract and returning management to Electricity Authority (AEE) A new agreement is also being worked out with another private company; National Alliance candidate, Juan Dalmao Facilitating the cancellation of contracts and the creation of new public companies; and candidates Project Dignity (PD), Javier Jimenez It stipulated that it would put pressure on LUMA to comply with the due agreement, and if it did not do so after 90 days, the company would be replaced by a new nonpartisan organization.
For her part, the gubernatorial candidate New Progressive Party (NPP), Jennifer Gonzalez His initial campaign was a push to cancel contracts, but now he is pushing for a “czar,” or committee, to oversee companies and thus avoid the high costs of canceling contracts.
For former campaign directors Wanda Vasquez, Jorge Davila There is no proposal more complete than that of the present Resident Commissioner.
“(…) Jenniffer González has always denounced LUMA for its inefficiencies. From the beginning, of course, when she started her oversight, you didn’t see that in any other party… That is, she entered the issue very early in her four-year term, without campaigning, unlike other candidates, who would have remained silent or not taken any action. (…) We must understand that canceling contracts is not necessarily a solution, especially when not many companies are willing to be responsible for a highly inefficient infrastructure,” Dávila explained.
Although there is a clear strategic adjustment Gonzalez about LUMAand for Kohlberg The Commissioner had every right to do so, but she did question the specificity of the new strategy and detailed the need to go through a legislative process for the so-called commission.
“She has to go to the Legislature first because she has to create this position, that agency and give the claws to the authority that she is proposing. So the process should start next year because it is not in session this election year.”
González even added that while reiterating his position, the committee, after due oversight, will include a review and investigation of the agreement, which could lead to its cancellation.
“According to the contract, the government entity responsible for this inspection is the office of the public-private organization because the contract recognizes the authority of this government entity as a government agency with the responsibility and legal authority to monitor LUMA. Therefore, whether you want to cancel the contract as a public policy decision or grant a probationary period, monitoring is essential because you cannot initiate a contract cancellation procedure that is not based on a contract breach. This is the part where I see a huge weakness in the government,” Kohlberg continued.
For Davila, the most important thing is that people see better service and lower grid costs, but that won’t be easy.
“I believe that if the ultimate solution is to cancel the contract, then you shouldn’t make every effort to Jennifer Gonzalez cancel it. The reality is that she needs to get to the governorship to see the situation firsthand. (…) In my opinion, Luma started with a left foot. I mean, I don’t think they were ready. They didn’t have the necessary personnel, they didn’t have the necessary equipment, and they were in Puerto Rico for a year before the facilities were even transferred to them. In that sense, I think the administration made a mistake. I think it was a mistake to hand them the keys without being sure that they had the human infrastructure and the necessary equipment to provide better services. “The former campaign director admitted.
Likewise, Kohlberg argues that candidates will strengthen their recommendations once they study the company’s contract, which is approximately 300 pages, with annexes.
“In addition to this, there is the so-called supplementary contract, which is important for all of us. When the Luma contract was signed, the representation between the parties was that the services would be provided, the government would obviously provide the economic resources and transfer the legal powers. But the contract gave a situation where the debt structure would last for several years. But this has not happened yet because we are still under review by the Federal Court. Therefore, because the government has not complied or has not completed the procedure, the Fiscal Control Board has a supplementary contract with clauses of a provisional or interim nature (…), which means that technically, the contractual obligations that may not be complied with under the original contract have not yet come into force because the 15-year contract has not yet started,” he explained.
While Davila believes Gonzalez’s alleged change in stance will not affect her, the former representative believes it is too early to tell if there has been any change in voters’ perceptions.
“If she sees it now or adjusts her position or corrects it or wants to pay it forward or sees it a slightly different way than she saw it in the primaries, then she has the right to do that, but she has to explain it to people and point it out. But we’re only a few weeks away from the election. This is a passionate topic. We still have tens of thousands of people without electricity, so you can imagine the context in which this debate is happening. It’s very complicated for all the candidates,” Kohlberg concluded.
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