By THE STAR STAFF
Independent Rep. Luis Raúl Torres Cruz said Monday that Genera PR has delivered information about the number of employees and salaries to a committee in the island House of Representatives after declining several times to do so.
While Genera PR asked that the information be kept under wraps, lawmakers voted to make it public.
The legislator said that last Thursday, the Economic Development, Planning, Telecommunications, and Public-Private Partnerships House Committee held an executive hearing in which Jorge Fernández Reboredo appeared on behalf of Genera PR and presented the reasons for claiming the confidentiality of the required information. Committee members, however, voted to make the information public.
“Given this determination by the Committee, we made public the information on the number of Electric Power Authority employees who agreed to work for Genera PR and the compensation they will receive,” Torres Cruz said. “This, including the hiring of engineer Daniel Hernández as director of operations. Engineer Daniel Hernández is not an employee of Genera PR, but a contractor, with a salary and compensation package of over half a million dollars a year and an initial bonus of $40,000 and possible annual bonuses. The hiring of the engineer Hernández, with an effective date of May 8, 2023, was done through a company that he incorporated in March 2023, under the name of PR Grid Consulting LLC. This raises doubts about whether this company will make other contracts with Genera PR, which may represent conflicts of interest.”
The lawmaker added that, as of earlier this month, PREPA had 815 employees, of which 670 are workers in the power plants and 145 are employees of the central offices in Santurce.
Of the 815 PREPA employees, 510 agreed to move to Genera PR. In addition, Genera PR hired some 58 PREPA employees who are not employees of the power plants and another 15 were hired from outside of PREPA.
“Among all these, Genera PR reported having hired 619 employees, including engineer Daniel Hernández, who, as we have seen, is not an employee, but a contractor,” Torres Cruz said.
Among those 619 employees, four earn between $200,000 and $299,000, one earns over $385,000, and another earns over $500,000, all annually, the lawmaker said, adding that those figures do not include possible annual bonuses. According to the released information, some 59 employees will earn salaries of between $100,000 and $200,000, some 540 employees will have salaries between $50,000 and $99,999, and about 12 employees will receive a salary between $47,000 and $49,999.
All of the aforementioned salaries will be paid annually with PREPA public funds, which come from what energy subscribers pay for the electricity rate, the legislator noted.