San Juan, Puerto Rico, December 1, 2021 – As part of its six-month anniversary since assuming operation of Puerto Rico’s transmission and distribution system, LUMA will be highlighting in a series of customer and public communications the significant scope of work and achievements that the company’s more than 3,000 employees have completed since June 1, 2021. These critical actions and the progress made across multiple areas, including infrastructure repairs and upgrades, customer service, solar adoption, are part of LUMA’s ongoing and concerted effort to build a world class energy system that the people of Puerto Rico deserve and can be proud of.

“While there is much more work to do, the men and women of LUMA have proven in just six months how determined they are to build a more reliable, more resilient, safer and cleaner electric system for all of Puerto Rico,” said LUMA Chief Executive Officer Wayne Stensby. “This talented team is more than 3,000 strong – who live and work in every part of Puerto Rico and are working hard every day, 7 days a week, 24 hours a day to build a world class energy system over the coming years.”

Since June 1, LUMA has made significant progress across multiple areas and energy priorities of importance to its 1.5 million customers, including:

• Infrastructure Upgrades: Upgrading critical local infrastructure including more than 1,800 power poles and dozens of critical distribution breakers to reduce the likelihood of future outages.

• Clearing Vegetation: Improving resiliency by clearing hazardous vegetation from over 100 of our substations and restoring three substations — including one that had not been in operation since 2010.

• Clearing Old Debris: Clearing and properly disposing of almost 1 million pounds of trash, waste and debris that was left on operational sites and that impeded work.

• Empowering Renewables: Accelerating Puerto Rico towards a renewable energy future by connecting 12,000 new customers and 50 megawatts of solar power and supporting Puerto Rico’s “tranche 1” renewable procurement plan.

• Improving Customer Service: Improving customer service by reopening all 25 customer service centers and opening four new customer contact centers across Puerto Rico.

• Providing New Customer Tools: Launching new customer channels of communication, including a new website, the Mi LUMA app and social media channels.

• Improving Employee Safety: Conducting health and safety training for hundreds of new LUMA co-workers and dramatically improving employee health and safety.

• Expanding the LUMA Team: Graduating the first class of Puerto Rican lineworkers from the LUMA College for Technical Training, bringing world-class training and development for the technical trades.

“While we are excited to share our accomplishments with our friends, families and neighbors, this is just the beginning, and we will not stop until the job is done. Working together, we know we can do this, and no matter the obstacle or challenge, our LUMA family is committed to building on the progress we’ve made and actions we’ve taken,” Stensby said.

Working Together and Raising Public Awareness

In addition to critical operational, customer, and infrastructure improvements, LUMA has also conducted significant outreach over the last six months to address questions and concerns by customers, regulators, municipal and government leaders, including:

• Meetings with all 78 mayors to listen, gather feedback and collaborate on ways to improve the electric grid and customer experience across Puerto Rico. The meetings were held regionally and were attended by regional operations and customer service members from LUMA’s team.
• Participation in more than 35 days of hearings and technical conferences with the Puerto Rico Energy Bureau to share our progress and provide updates.
• Responded to over 100 legislative requests for information and questions.

Looking Ahead: Building a More Reliable and Resilient Grid

Looking ahead, LUMA is advancing the implementation of Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) funds with a growing pipeline that today contains 132 projects and programs representing $7.4B. As of today, these projects are progressing as follows:

• 120 approved projects in the design and engineering phase.
• 10 additional projects have been approved by the Puerto Rico Energy Bureau (PREB) and are being submitted to FEMA for approval.

This multi-year program includes a series of critical infrastructure projects that will be essential to building a more reliable and resilient grid.

Expanded Public Outreach

Given the importance of this initial six-month period for LUMA’s customers, the company will also be publishing these important milestone and updates in newspapers, emailing customers about the progress made, and posting on social media beginning this week. All public outreach efforts are part of the company’s commitment to keep its 1.5 million customers aware of the progress and actions the company has taken and will take over the coming months and years.

About LUMA

LUMA is a Puerto Rican company that, as of June 1, 2021, operates Puerto Rico’s electric power transmission and distribution system. LUMA is a company driven by the mission to transform the electric transmission and distribution system in order to provide all Puerto Ricans the reliable, resilient and affordable electric grid they deserve. As a customer-centric company, LUMA’s entire workforce of more than 3,000 hard-working men and women are singularly focused on safely delivering an exceptional customer service experience to its more than 1.5 million customers.