SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — A record electric rate went into effect in Puerto Rico on Thursday as outages persist and the U.S. territory’s power grid continues to crumble. A residential customer who consumes 800 kilowatt-hours per month will see their monthly bill increase approximately 18%, from $229 to $271, according to the Puerto Rico Energy Bureau, which approved the increase. The new rate will remain in effect until at least December 31 and is expected to increase an already high cost of living. on the island of 3.2 million inhabitants, where more than 40% of residents live in poverty. The new rate of 33.86 cents per kWh far exceeds the average rate of 18.3 cents per kWh for residential customers in the continental United States, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Luma Energy, which oversees power transmission and distribution in Puerto Rico, had requested an increase of more than six cents per kWh and stressed that it would not generate additional revenue for the company, but “The difference is due to higher energy consumption due to high summer temperatures, the increase in global oil prices as a result of the conflict in the Middle East, which has limited fuel transportation and increased costs, increased use of customers’ batteries and the need to rely on more expensive fuel when power plants do not generate enough electricity,” Luma said in a statement. The increase comes as outages persist nearly a decade after Puerto Rico’s power grid was devastated by Hurricane Maria when it hit the island in 2017 as a powerful category. 4, although the network was already weak due to lack of maintenance and investment for decades. Last week, a large fire that broke out at a substation left more than 200,000 customers without power in the latest outage to hit the island. The Energy Bureau said in a statement Wednesday night that it approved an increase of 5.28 cents per kWh to reduce the financial burden on customers. He noted that he did not pass on the $17.6 million cost associated with what he called alleged failures by New Fortress Energy to supply fuel from June to August. “Fuel costs should not be automatically passed on to the consumer simply because they were incurred or billed,” the Energy Bureau said. New Fortress Energy supplies natural gas to power generation plants on the north coast of Puerto Rico. Currently, those plants are using diesel, which increases costs, because a ship loaded with natural gas has been blocked from entering San Juan Bay for two weeks due to its size. The case remains stuck in court. The Energy Bureau said it is also investigating about $19 million that Luma said was paid for quantities of gas that officials said exceeded what Genera PR “ultimately needed or could receive.” Genera PR oversees power generation in Puerto Rico. The increase comes as Puerto Rico Governor Jenniffer González’s administration pushes to cancel the contract with Luma, with the case currently stuck in court with ongoing lawsuits. Luma and Genera PR were awarded contracts as Puerto Rico’s state Electric Power Authority struggles to restructure its more than $9 billion debt load. In 2024, oil accounted for 63% of the island’s total energy use; natural gas accounted for 31%, coal 5% and renewables 1%, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.___Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
