In meeting with FEMA Review Council, Duke Austin, President and Chief Executive Officer of Quanta Services highlights a series of critical changes to empower progress and support FEMA-funded improvements critical to Puerto Rico’s energy future.

San Juan, Puerto Rico, September 24, 2025 – Today, Duke Austin, President and Chief Executive Officer of Quanta Services, a global leader in utility operations, emergency response, and electric infrastructure, met with representatives of the FEMA Review Council, as well as Puerto Rican officials and agencies such as the Puerto Rico Public-Private Partnerships Authority (P3A), the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) and the Puerto Rico Government, to discuss ongoing challenges and obstacles that have prevented continued progress in the execution of hundreds of FEMA-funded projects. In the meeting, Austin reaffirmed Quanta Services’ and ATCO’s (LUMA parent companies) strong commitment to Puerto Rico and the critical need for greater cooperation and support by local agencies to avoid needlessly delaying and complicated LUMA’s efforts to execute FEMA-funded projects and build on the historic progress since taking over operations in 2021.

“The 4,500-strong LUMA team, have worked tirelessly to rebuild the energy grid in Puerto Rico. Critical to this rebuilding effort are an array of FEMA-funded projects that are intended to address the devastation of Hurricane Maria in 2017 but were not moved forward. Despite making historic progress executing hundreds of FEMA-funded projects with prudent cost controls and certainty of execution, obstacles to progress remain. For the sake of Puerto Rico’s energy future, this must change. Our success in executing these vital FEMA-funded projects depends on a strong public-private partnership with local agencies and with FEMA. By working together and removing unnecessary bureaucratic obstacles, we can achieve what Puerto Rico deserves – a more reliable, safer, more resilient, and cleaner energy future,” said Duke Austin, President and Chief Executive Officer of Quanta Services, one of LUMA’s parent companies.

FEMA Progress to Date: LUMA’s Record

Since 2021, LUMA has initiated more than 500 critical FEMA-funded projects, with 187 projects already under construction or completed. In comparison, the prior operator had zero FEMA transmission and distribution projects obligated or under construction. Vital FEMA-funded projects LUMA is executing include initiatives to replace all 1.5 million electric meters with smart meters, replace tens of thousands of streetlights to improve public safety and clear hazardous vegetation from thousands of miles of powerlines, as well as efforts to repair and replace substation infrastructure, rebuild transmission lines, and integrate more solar and battery storage into the system.

Ongoing Obstacles to Progress: What is Delaying FEMA-Funded Projects

Despite LUMA’s progress in moving forward FEMA-funded projects, a series of factors continue to delay the path toward greater progress. In just the last nine months, for example, FEMA-obligated projects per submission have decreased by 50% in 2025 compared to the period between 2022 and 2024. In addition, over 224 FEMA-funded projects continue to be delayed because of an array of local bureaucratic challenges and issues. Among the factors affecting LUMA’s ability to execute these vital FEMA-funded projects include:

• Distribution of critical funds necessary to operate and maintain the system and funding for emergency reserve accounts continue to be withheld, thereby delaying the ability to execute an array of vital projects, including essential FEMA-funded projects – paralyzing progress across hundreds of vital infrastructure projects.
• PREPA’s 10-year, $10,000,000,000 bankruptcy remains unresolved and restricts access to private capital funding that would empower further grid development.
• A complicated FEMA Accelerated Awards Strategy (FAASt) process that results in significant delays of timely vegetation, transmission, and distribution projects that are critical to address public safety issues and increases in associated costs.

• A 40-year-old generation fleet in a severe state of disrepair, which LUMA does not own, operate or manage, that continues to negatively impact the pace of progress.
• FEMA’s sudden reversal on reimbursement for the use of linemen loaned to LUMA (at cost) by the parent companies for emergency response and reconstruction.
• The lack of greater local cooperation, funding and support has severely slowed obligation of projects and limited the total number of obligated projects.

Empowering Progress in FEMA-funded Projects

During the meeting with the FEMA Review Council, Quanta CEO Duke Austin emphasized a series of positive steps that can and should be taken, including:

• Faster reimbursement of all pre-approved FEMA projects – without timely resources this vital work simply can’t happen;
• Increasing working capital advances to ensure more projects can be worked on concurrently;
• Fully reimbursing the legitimate, reasonable costs for seconded labor (i.e. loaned linemen) that has been necessary for response to storms and reconstruction;
• Eliminating multiple layers of unnecessary bureaucracy and many rounds of review and revision by allowing LUMA to work directly with federal agencies, removing burdensome reporting steps unrelated to FEMA requirements, and bundling similar or related projects as a single program to allow for faster obligations; and
• Reactivating 224 previously initiated FAASt projects for transmission and distribution work that are necessary to meet near- and long-term needs and have been delayed.

About LUMA

LUMA is a Puerto Rican company that, since June 1, 2021, operates and manages the electric power transmission and distribution system in Puerto Rico. LUMA is a company driven by a mission to transform the electrical transmission and distribution system to provide all Puerto Ricans with the reliable, resilient, cleaner, and affordable electrical service they deserve. As a customer-centric company, LUMA’s entire workforce of over 4,500 employees is focused on safely delivering an exceptional customer service experience to its 1.5 million customers.