By The Star Staff
The New Progressive Party minority leader in the island House of Representatives, Carlos “Johnny” Méndez Nuñez, along with San Juan District 4 Rep. Víctor Parés Otero, on Sunday asked Gov. Pedro Pierluisi Urrutia to sign House Joint Resolution 604, which orders the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) and LUMA Energy to cease retroactive charges of $300 to thousands of photovoltaic (solar) system customers for “supplementary studies.”
“This resolution (604) is a measure that provides justice to consumers of solar systems in Puerto Rico, part of the highest vision of fiscal responsibility,” Méndez Nuñez said. “The use of photovoltaic energy systems in Puerto Rico has experienced an exponential increase in the last five years. According to available data, in Puerto Rico there were about 110,000 residences connected to photovoltaic energy platforms as of December 31, 2023. In contrast, in January 2017 the number did not exceed 2,000 units. Charging the majority of these customers $300 is a blow to the pocket that we do not endorse.”
“LUMA, as an agent of PREPA, has issued thousands of notices to solar customers charging these $300 for supplementary studies on systems installed years ago, which is unacceptable,” Parés Otero added. “This Regulation 8915 is obsolete at the time of this study, as it conflicts with the automatic interconnection rule established in the Puerto Rico Energy Public Policy Act (Act 17 of 2019) for solar systems up to 25kW [kilowatts]. But since it has not been repealed or updated, it forces LUMA to implement unreasonable actions such as charging these $300. Resolution 604 corrects this and safeguards thousands of Puerto Rican consumers, which is why we urge the governor to turn it into law.”
The measure, unanimously approved by the House and Senate, establishes that the island Energy Bureau will repeal the provisions contained in the 2017 law, which orders customers interconnected with photovoltaic energy systems to pay PREPA $300 for the purpose of conducting a supplementary study of energy capacity.
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