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SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Officers in Puerto Rico introduced one other electrical fee enhance Wednesday, the seventh in a yr amid persevering with energy outages and the U.S. territory’s financial disaster.
For a shopper that consumes 800 kilowatt hours, the brand new fee shall be 33 cents per kwh, in contrast with the earlier 29 cents. The common U.S. electrical fee is 14 cents per kwh, in response to the U.S. Vitality Info Administration.
The speed enhance will go into impact Friday, angering many on the island of three.2 million individuals who simply cope with fixed energy outages blamed on crumbling infrastructure as a consequence of lack of upkeep. In April, a hearth at a important energy plant sparked an islandwide blackout.
The rise comes as crews start rebuilding Puerto Rico’s energy grid that Hurricane Maria razed in September 2017, leavig some clients with out energy for as much as a yr.
The electrical fee will increase have occurred since Luma, a personal firm, took over transmission and distribution a yr in the past from Puerto Rico’s Electrical Energy Authority, which is burdened with $9 billion in debt and is attempting to emerge from chapter.
Puerto Rico’s Vitality Bureau mentioned it might revise the electrical fee by or earlier than Oct. 1 amid issues that the latest enhance would spook potential traders already cautious in regards to the state of the island’s electrical grid.
Puerto Rico’s energy vegetation rely upon petroleum to generate about 97% of electrical energy, with renewables producing roughly 3%. The federal government has pledged to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels in upcoming years.
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