The Puerto Rico Energy Commission approved a final electrical rate increase 21% lower than the provisional increase it had approved in June.
Effectively, Puerto Rico electrical consumers will be paying .274 cents per kilowatt-hour less than has been the case since August, when the increase went into effect.
As part of a total restructuring of the Puerto Rico Electrical Power Authority, there have been increases in the authority's charges. In June the commission approved a 3.1 cents per kilowatt-hour increase as a "transition charge" to support a securitization of the authority's debt. About a week later the commission approved a provisional 1.3 cents per kilowatt-hour increase in the authority's base electric rates.
Tuesday's action by the commission backtracks on the rate increase by .274 cents per kilowatt-hour.
"With this approval we complete another important milestone in the process to solve PREPA's financial problems," the authority's executive director Jaview Quintana said in a press release.
With the new increase the projected rate for Puerto Ricans will be 21.036 cents per kilowatt-hour. For the next seven to eight months consumers will be paying .274 cents per kilowatt-hour less than this amount to rebate them for the rates they have been paying since August, according to the commission.
