Her chief rival in governor’s race says the real problem is the ‘privatization’ law behind the contracting of LUMA
By John McPhaul
Jenniffer González Colón, the New Progressive Party candidate for governor, said Wednesday that her proposal to create an energy czar is a response to the fact that, in her opinion, none of the entities in charge of overseeing the work of LUMA Energy, the private operator of Puerto Rico’s electric power transmission and distribution system, have fulfilled their responsibilities.
“The ultimate goal is not to seek a cancellation [of LUMA’s contract,” González Colón said at a press conference. “The ultimate goal is to solve the problem for people, to ensure that people have light.”
“I am not talking about a band-aid, I am not talking about a spokesperson, no, no, no,” González Colón said. “I am talking about creating a law that allocates the experience of an energy czar. It has to be a person who knows the subject, who has a specialized technical team to be able to talk about distribution, to be able to talk about generation, to be able to talk about billing, to be able to talk about debt, and so that we can talk about execution, about creating new energy plants, about upgrading the plants that are burning energy to natural gas or hydrogen or any other technology that will lead us to being able to have renewable energy, which should be the goal -- that we have clean and renewable energy. That should be the government’s goal. Is it in law, are we close to achieving it? The reality is … no. We have to start putting these steps in place to be able to get there.”
“It is all about energy policy. And that czar is the one who is going to make the necessary recommendations. It has to be approved by law,” González Colón added. “Therefore, the state will have the strength and the wherewithal to recognize this expertise and this expertise will help us. If we have to change the contract, change it. If we have to take it to court, we will take it. If we have to cancel it, we will cancel it, but it will not be canceled because the wind blew. It must be canceled with the corresponding legal and technical arguments, which at this moment no one is raising. Or have you heard the director of the public-private sector talk about this? No. Have you heard the COR3 [Central Office for Recovery, Reconstruction and Resiliency] director … ? No. The La Fortaleza chief of staff? No. The truth is that no one is doing it.”
González Colón said her proposal does not seek to amend the laws of the entities in charge of supervising LUMA Energy, such as the Energy Bureau, since in her opinion that entity does not answer directly to the island government.
“First, because the bureau, regardless of who the government is, remains in charge and does not represent the government of Puerto Rico,” the resident commissioner and gubernatorial candidate said. “It is an independent bureau that reviews, that sees the rate, [and] approves it, among other things. I am not talking about any of that. I am talking about an official who represents the people, the people of Puerto Rico, from the executive branch. That is what I am talking about. […] I am talking about an entity of the government of Puerto Rico, an official with a team. And I am not saying that the deal is perfect. I think, that is why I said that we have to review them all. We have to review the energy policy to see what has worked and what has not worked. More than 10 years have passed since this was approved. I think it is time for it to be reviewed. And sometimes the review can imply amending, it can imply improving, it can imply eliminating.”
González Colón’s Popular Democratic Party opponent, Rep. Jesús Manuel Ortiz González, said “Jenniffer González today threw another smokescreen over LUMA, to hide her complicity and that of the NPP.”
“To win her primary, she put on a show of opposing LUMA,” he said. “But her real desire is to defend LUMA, which is a product of her legislation to privatize essential services. She cynically took advantage of the people’s frustration with LUMA to win her primary, but she cannot escape her record and that of her party.”
Until recently, González Colón, in her post as resident commissioner, was vocal in her opposition to LUMA, Ortiz said.
“Now, after the primary, the [resident] commissioner has reversed course regarding the contract and told us that LUMA is staying,” he said. “Jenniffer is using the LUMA issue as a political football. Today, no one can say that the electrical system is better than it was four years ago. As part of the show, the figure of a ‘czar’ is invented to oversee the contract. The [resident] commissioner does not seem to understand that the problem is LUMA and the structure that she approved as the author of the Public-Private Partnerships Law. This disaster is her fault and [the fault of] her vision of promoting hasty privatization processes that go against the public interest. This contract [with LUMA Energy] is a product of that vision.”
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