The Energy Bureau approves an increase in the electricity bill which will take effect immediately

He Puerto Rico Energy Bureau approved an increase of 0.81 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh) of the electricity bill to be implemented in the first quarter of the year (January-March).

For an unsubsidized residential customer of Electricity Authority (EEA), with an average consumption of 800 kWh per month, the impact will be an additional $ 6.52 or 4.7% compared to the last quarter of 2020 (October-December). From the $ 138.77 you paid then, you will now pay $ 145.29.

The cost per kWh increased from 17.3 to 18.1 cents.

The Energy Bureau approved the increase on December 31. One resolution and order of the regulatory body, of which The new day obtained a copy, it is explained that the increase responds to the reconciliation of the adjustment clauses for the purchase of fuel and energy for the period September-November 2020.

In other words, PREPA underestimated its spending between September and November 2020, so now it will recover the money by charging its subscribers.

“The Energy Bureau understood that the costs presented to us by the Authority for September, October and November are reasonable and that reconciliation could be done,” Associate Commissioner Ángel Rivera de la Cruz said in an interview with the newspaper.

In turn, the consumer representative in PREPA Board of Directors, Tomás Torres, explained that the increase approved by the Energy Bureau responds to the fact that the price of a barrel of oil “rose” after its precipitous fall in April due to Covid-19 pandemic.

“As (the price of a barrel of oil) normalizes globally, slowly (the electricity bill) increases, but there can be an increase in big business,” Torres said, recalling that at the beginning of the pandemic, the cost per kWh was 22 cents.

According to the law, PREPA must submit its quarterly revenue and expenditure projections to the Energy Bureau, adjusted to the price of a barrel of oil. The regulatory body reconciles the figures presented by PREPA. The process allows, for example, that if the difference between estimates and actual fuel costs and energy purchases exceeds $ 20 million, the factors for the rest of the quarter can be assessed and recalculated.

In its resolution of 31 December, The Energy Bureau has suspended the reconciliation of the adjustment clauses for the purchase of fuel and energy for June, July and August 2020, due to “several inconsistencies” between the costs that PREPA would have assumed and the market price for that period.. PREPA had to offer a new reconciliation last Friday, January 15th.

Commissioner Rivera de la Cruz indicated that PREPA had requested additional time, until tomorrow, Wednesday, at noon, to provide the necessary data, after which the negotiated party would be able to reconcile.

Considering this, Torres asked the Energy Bureau to stop the approved hike for January, February and March. “No increase is justified until the problems with the fuel inventory in the Electricity Authority are clarified and resolved,” he said.