Leaders of Puerto Rican Legislature Vow Not to Support Current PREPA Restructuring Agreement

San Juan, Puerto Rico, -- Yesterday, Thomas Rivera Schatz, president of the Puerto Rican Senate and Carlos “Johnny” Méndez, president of the House of Representatives, announced that the New Progressive Party (PNP) does not support the preliminary debt restructuring agreement of PREPA, the island’s publicly-owned utility. The PNP controls the Governor’s office and has a two-thirds majority in the legislature of Puerto Rico.

This announcement came one day after organizations including Hispanic Federation, INESI, El Puente, ACONER, Comité de Diálogo Ambiental Inc, AMANESER 2025, and Sierra Club held a lobby day to urge legislators to reject the debt restructuring agreement because of its negative impact on Puerto Rico’s economy and disaster response capabilities. This is because of its negative impact on Puerto Rico’s economy and the fact that it adds a tax burden on renewable energy which runs counter to the public policy established in Puerto Rico’s Public Energy Policy Act.  

“PREPA's current debt restructuring plan requires an enormous price increase for electricity,” said Adriana Gonzáles, environmental justice organizer for Sierra Club de Puerto Rico. “The RSA would increase the electricity bills of working families, businesses and even the government itself by over 20 percent. The RSA will force the people of Puerto Rico to prioritize paying back foreign debts even during natural disasters and other emergencies, compromising the basic needs and safety of the people of Puerto Rico. We urge our legislators to continue defending the Puerto Rican people just as they have done today.”

“The public’s basic necessities and the commitment to building a resilient electric grid, including the maximum amount of renewable energy, must not be sacrificed in order to pay for a debt restructuring agreement that is unreasonable and unjust. According to experts, the rate increase in electric bills proposed in PREPA’s debt restructuring agreement represents a 20-percent increment in the public’s electric bill. After the economic crisis, austerity measures, hurricanes and never-ending earthquakes, the people cannot stand it anymore. We must be alert so that, just like the legislative power, both the executive and judicial powers and the Fiscal Oversight Board are kept from promoting such detrimental agreement for the country’s future,” said Senior Director of Hispanic Federation in Puerto Rico Charlotte Gossett Navarro.

“This agreement would aggravate even more Puerto Rico’s economic crisis and increase the exodus of Puerto Ricans to the mainland. This would mean that the debt burden would fall on fewer citizens, which makes this agreement unviable,” said Amy Orta, from El Puente: Enlace Latino de Acción Climática.

“The agreement to repay PREPA’s debt would keep the Puerto Rican people from attaining self-sufficiency in energy terms through solar community organizations, energy efficiency and other measures, and would anchor us to last century’s energy dependency and economic colonization,” said Comité de Diálogo Ambiental Ruth Santiago.

“Through Act 17 of 2019, we have declared our intention to transform our electric system into one reliant on renewable energy sources. The RSA runs counter these aspirations as Puerto Ricans. Furthermore, the RSA would mean more inequality because of higher energy costs, which in turn would bring about more social conflicts,” said Dr. Manuel Orama of the National Institute of Energy and Sustainability of the University of Puerto Rico, at Mayagüez.