Historic Investments for Puerto Rico’s Energy Future
LUMA remains committed to improving grid reliability and resiliency, strengthening emergency preparedness and response, and providing better customer service for Puerto Rico’s 1.5 million electric customers.
As part of this commitment, we proposed two investment options that will allow our team to continue taking the necessary steps to reduce outages and avoid millions of minutes of service interruptions for customers over the next three years.
These proposals are part of a transparent regulatory process under the Puerto Rico Energy Bureau (PREB), which requested that we submit both options, an optimal and a limited budget, as part of the three-year rate review. The proposals also include funding requests from Genera PR and PREPA, ensuring that every proposed dollar is publicly evaluated and used to strengthen the system.
It is also important to highlight that LUMA will not benefit financially from these investments. We operate a system that inherited the bankruptcy of the former electric utility, which holds $10 billion in debt and is unable to access capital markets. Therefore, every proposed cent comes solely from the regulated rate and federal funding. All of it is reinvested directly in Puerto Rico and, most importantly, in our customers.
The Optimal Budget is designed in response to the PREB’s request to submit an investment option that fully encompasses the total T&D system needs required to dramatically improve reliability and resiliency and help achieve the PREB’s reliability performance targets within 5 years. The Constrained Budget focuses on select T&D improvements implemented over a longer period of time in order to reduce the impact on customer rates.
The Puerto Rico Energy Bureau (PREB) requires a rate review every three years to ensure the electric system has the necessary funds to operate reliably and safely. The last rate review in Puerto Rico took place in 2017, and before that in 1989—meaning that for decades, rates were not updated to reflect the system’s actual needs.
LUMA has proposed an adjustment to finance critical investments aimed at reducing outages, improving resilience to weather events, and strengthening the system’s response capacity.
The rate adjustment has not yet been approved. LUMA submitted the proposal to the Puerto Rico Energy Bureau (PREB), which is the regulatory body responsible for evaluating and deciding whether to approve the change and under what terms.
The proposed increase is approximately $19.16 per month for the average residential customer, which amounts to less than 63 cents per day.
If approved by the PREB, the adjustment would go into effect starting in September or October 2025.
LUMA does not profit from the proposed increase. Every cent is reinvested directly into Puerto Rico’s electric grid to strengthen the system and improve service for customers.
Puerto Rico’s transmission and distribution system has suffered decades of neglect, poor maintenance, and underinvestment. Without new investments, a 15.7% increase in outages is projected over the next three years due to the system’s current condition.
If none of the investment options are approved, customers could face up to 7 outages per year lasting an average of 20 hours each—almost three times longer than the second-worst electric utility in the U.S.
Yes. LUMA has facilitated over $158 million in financial assistance and enrolled more than 27,000 customers in payment plans. There are also subsidized programs for eligible customers. For more information, you can: