LUMA Energy President and CEO Wayne Stensby on Sunday refused to answer several questions from representatives during a public hearing before the Economic Development Committee as part of the investigation into the contract between the Electricity Authority (PREPA) and LUMA Energy, claiming that it was a private company and that it did not have to provide the requested information.
Stensby’s statement was rejected by the representative of Luis Raúl Torres Cruz, who heads the Economic Development Committee; Rafael Hernández Montañez, President of the House of Representatives, both legislators elected by the Democratic People’s Party (PPD); Denis Márquez, spokeswoman for the Independence Party of Puerto Rico (PIP), and Mariana Nogales, spokeswoman for the Victoria Ciudadana Movement (MVC), who agreed that the LUMA Energy contract for the operation of the PREPA transmission and distribution system is paid with public funds and, therefore, the Legislature has jurisdiction over the matter and may request information.
Representatives for the New Progressive Party (PNP) and the Dignity Project (PD) who are part of the Economic Development Commission apologized for attending Sunday’s hearing, which lasted more than six hours.
The public hearing was affected by sound problems and the hearing of English-Spanish translations, coinciding with what lawmakers demanded and Stensby’s response.
Paid with public funds
“The contract with LUMA Energy is paid for with public funds,” Torres Cruz said several times during the meeting, which also clashed with Stensby, asking for information about Quanta and ATCO, which own LUMA Energy.
Quanta and ATCO each have a 50% stake in LUMA, which has been selected to operate and maintain PREPA for 15 years, beginning June 1, 2021, in a contract approved by the PREPA Board of Directors in less than one year. hour.
At the meeting, Stensby refused to even appoint members of the LUMA Energy board. “I will not answer this question,” Stensby said several times to various questions from representatives.
Other questions Stensby declined to answer were his wife’s name, how much he was paid at his last job, how much he would be paid as president of LUMA Energy, and who appointed him to office, in addition to saying that they are shareholders. from Quanta and ATCO.
Stensby said the money for the salaries came from Luma Energy, but never accepted that it was public funds, as representative Torres Cruz said.
Stensby has confirmed that he is a shareholder in ATCO. He stated that he did not remember when he was appointed president of LUMA and did not answer the names of whom or who had appointed him.
Luma Energy was incorporated on January 17, 2020, but in the meeting it turned out that at least since January 15, Stensby represented it in a meeting.
We recommend:
They demand the intervention of Governor Pierluisi
“There is no doubt that the contractual transaction between PREPA and LUMA Energy is full of irregularities. Our call to Pedro Pierluisi is to take action in this regard and not to ignore this transaction “, said the President of the Chamber, Hernández Montañez.
“The discussion in recent weeks is that this is a contract that benefits a company and an irresponsible part of the Puerto Rican government has participated in this leonine contract,” Márquez said.
“I do not respond to anything in the presentation” presented by the president of LUMA Energy before the Economic Development Commission, said the spokesperson of the PIP chamber.
Márquez said that although PREPA assets are not privatized, if “they are handed over to a private company” and at this time there is no certainty about how many employees were employed or how much will be paid.
For his part, Stensby said that those who keep the same places will not be paid less.
However, the contract with LUMA Energy involves the cancellation of collective agreements and there is no obligation to hire PREPA employees, but only to interview, Márquez said.
“This contract is leonine. It offers a special tax treatment to LUMA Energy “, said the PIP representative.
Márquez condemned PREPA’s mismanagement of government administrations, but also pointed out how “thousands of employees coped” with Puerto Rico in an emergency. “It was that electricity corporation that energized the country. And it offers services everywhere ”.
Deadline for delivery of documents
Torres Cruz gave Stensby two calendar days to provide various information to the Economic Development Commission, including the minutes of the LUMA Energy meetings, copies of written and electronic communications between him and government officials, and warned him that if he did not comply, he would ask the Chamber to authorize the court to request the information.
He gave you five days to provide a criminal record certificate, wherever you worked for Quanta, ATCO or LUMA.
On the other hand, Torres Cruz asked Stensby if he knew the former governor Ricardo Rosselló, to whom the president of LUMA said “no”. Then he said he couldn’t remember if he had met Rosselló.
He confirmed that he had met with the current governor Pierluisi twice this year and that he had met with him and all the candidates for governor before the elections. He also confirmed that he met with José Ortiz while he was director of PREPA.
As for the payment of the contract, starting with the second year of the same LUMA will receive a fixed payment of $ 105 million for its services.