LUMA called on to attend public hearing in House on Wednesday

Popular Democratic Party lawmakers and mayors called on LUMA Energy officials to appear at a public hearing in the island House of Representatives this week. “... We realize that [LUMA] is not only incapacitated, but it is also unable to continue working and operating our electrical system,” said District 26 Rep. Jesús Hernández Arroyo, at center.

By The Star Staff

Reps. Jesús Manuel Ortiz González, Jesús “Chui” Hernández Arroyo and Deborah Soto Arroyo, along with mayors Luis Javier Hernández Ortiz of Villalba, William Miranda Torres of Caguas and José A. “Josian” Santiago Rivera of Comerío, demanded Sunday that LUMA Energy attend a public hearing of the Economic Development, Planning, Telecommunications, Public-Private Partnerships and Energy Committee in the island House of Representatives on Wednesday.

“LUMA, in the face of the emergency caused by the storm Ernesto, has shown a neglect and lack of sense of urgency that borders on negligence and for which they must respond before the House of Representatives,” Ortiz González, who is the Popular Democratic Party (PDP) candidate for governor said in a written statement. “Today, Sunday, there are still thousands of subscribers without electrical service and that is not acceptable.”

Hernández Arroyo, who chairs the aforementioned House committee, said LUMA has demonstrated its inability to operate the system.

“Since LUMA began to mismanage matters in Santa Isabel and Coamo, it has demonstrated its inability,” the District 26 (Villalba, Barranquitas, Orocovis and Coamo) lawmaker said. “After the events of the past few days, we realize that it is not only incapacitated, but it is also unable to continue working and operating our electrical system.”

Hernández Ortiz, president of Puerto Rico Mayors Association, which groups PDP municipal executives, said “it is a shame that our people are suffering with the inconsistencies and incapacities of LUMA, but it is more worrying that the company has not had direct communication with the mayors during this emergency.”

“We are the first ones that citizens call when they have problems, and it is the duty of this company to maintain a direct line of communication with all of us,” he said.

“LUMA’s inaction in this emergency is additional evidence of its failure to comply with its contractual responsibility,” Hernández Ortiz added. “This investigation will help us document it.”

Ortiz González asserted that “LUMA’s failure is a product of the current administration’s hasty privatization policy, which is why my delegation and I have voted in favor of canceling that contract on several occasions.”

“Puerto Rico does not deserve electrical service like the one it has,” the PDP president said. “We must aspire to more and LUMA has definitely shown that it cannot be part of that equation.”