LUMA & Puerto Rico's Energy Crisis!

In the last several weeks, Puerto Ricans have taken to the streets to protest the privatization of electricity services. Their main demand is the cancellation of the contract granted to Luma energy, the company hired to fix Puerto Rico's antiquated power grid.

The protesters have also called for governor Pierluisi's resignation, arguing that he has been supporting neoliberal measures, ignoring the needs of the citizens since his election last year. They also condemned him for repeatedly defending Luma.

People have seen seven consecutive price increases in their electricity bills, but the power service has not improved since Luma took over in June of 2021. Residents on the island have constantly had the deal with unsteady power, low-voltage, and massive blackouts. In April 2022, an island-wide blackout left 1 million people ( a third of the Islands population) without power. Puerto Ricans have denounced these power outages and their effects before.

Luma energy is the company responsible for power distribution and power transmission in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. They're also in charge of maintaining and modernizing the power infrastructure. Luma energy was selected by the Puerto Rico public-private partnership Authority, under the auspices of the Financial Oversight and Management Board of Puerto Rico, an oversight board created and forced on the island by the US government.

Luma Energy, headquartered in San Juan, was formed by Canadian utilities limited and Quanta Services, to serve the people of Puerto Rico. The hiring of luma was to mark a new beginning for the island: a 16-year, 1.5 billion dollar experiment with privatization. Luma was contracted to distribute electricity to 1.5 million customers and make badly needed upgrades to the power grid. Also keep in mind that as the result of Hurricane Maria in 2017, FEMA has allocated nearly ten billion dollars in funds for the effort of repairing and updating the power grid.

In the time that Luma has been in charge, problems have worsened by many measures, including numerous sustained power outages and rate increases that have infuriated customers and lawmakers.

Puerto Rico's problems with Luma Energy are also compounded by the fact that its budget is managed by an oversight panel created by Congress in 2016 to rescue the island from a financial crisis created when its government was unable to pay its more than 70 billion dollar debt. Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority supposedly accounted for 9 billion of the debt, and government leaders who had long pushed for privatization saw their chance to create a new model.

By hiring Luma, officials were betting the private sector could come up with solutions where the government had for decades failed. What they discovered however was a private contractor with its own problems.

Many have also argued that the Luma electricity crisis is partly a result of austerity measures imposed by the Fiscal control board on the people of Puerto Rico..They argue that these measures will further hurt poor and working class Puerto Ricans already struggling after the debacles of Hurricane Maria, recurrent earthquakes, the covid pandemic, and the rise in the cost of living. In conclusion, they argue that essential Services should not be exploited for the economic benefit of the ruling class.

Let us know what you think in the comments section below. Please hit the like button, don't forget to subscribe, and turn on the notification Bell for more videos.

#coquireport #puertoricoenergy #lumaenergy

Check out our latest videos and don't forget to subscribe:
Are Puerto Ricans being displaced by Tax Act 60?
#https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HDUWP76QLE
Puerto Rico Flag Ban?
#https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPiF-hXXDqg
Charity: Are you being scammed?
#https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTLx7S9cYaE
Check out our latest videos and don't forget to subscribe: