Community News · San Juan, PR
Puerto Ricans Protest Record-High Electricity Costs in San Juan
A couple hundred people marched outside the offices of Puerto Rico's electric utility in San Juan last week to protest electricity rates that rose nearly 20% this month, reaching a record high. Customers in the U.S. territory now pay almost twice the average rate in the 50 states, on an island where 40% of residents live in poverty. LUMA Energy CEO Janisse Quinones defended the company, attributing costs to expensive oil and noting that generation falls to another firm. Governor Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon has publicly accused LUMA of failing to deliver, while some protesters also blamed the governor's party for privatizing the grid after Hurricane Maria without stabilizing public power infrastructure.