By The Star Staff
Gov. Pedro Pierluisi Urrutia said Monday that he has not yet made a final determination on whether he will amend or repeal Act 10 of 2024 related to the net metering program.
The Financial Oversight and Management Board gave the government until Tuesday to repeal the law, which would ban the Puerto Rico Energy Bureau from changing the commonwealth’s net metering and energy distribution policy until at least 2031.
“That letter is under evaluation,” the governor said. “We have not taken a position, but I have to say that I signed that law, and all the legislators voted in favor of it. In other words, it is the public policy of the administration.”
The governor said the law is consistent with the mandate under Law 17 of 2019, which establishes public policy on energy in Puerto Rico.
“That law is what basically asks us to do everything within our power to promote and incentivize solar systems in Puerto Rico,” Pierluisi said in response to questions from the press. “And the current net metering mechanism encourages that. In other words, what it does is encourage us to have more solar systems.”
The oversight board said the law is inconsistent with the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority’s (PREPA) fiscal plan. PREPA is currently under bankruptcy to restructure $9 billion in debt.
In a letter dated May 2, the executive director of the oversight board, Robert Mujica, established that if the governor and the Legislature do not repeal or amend Law 10, “the Board, which reserves all its rights, will take the actions that it considers necessary, including litigation, to achieve the annulment of Law 10.”
The statute that the board wants amended or repealed extends a study on the net metering program until 2030 to make adjustments to the costs or benefits that so-called prosumers receive.