LUMA Energy customers to miss out on bill relief until next quarterly review, Puerto Rico Energy Bureau accepts consortium’s recommendation to postpone reconciliation

LUMA Energy customers will not enjoy bill relief starting in February, after the Puerto Rico Energy Bureau (NEPR) accepted the consortium’s recommendation to postpone, until the next quarterly review, the reconciliation for an excess of collections recorded last December that exceeded $24 million.

Had it been concluded that the adjustment should be applied for February and March, residential consumers would have seen a reduction of about 3.3% in their electricity bills compared to the current amount.

According to the calculations that the consortium presented to NEPR on January 16, a customer with a consumption of 400 kilowatt hours (kWh) would have benefited from a reduction of $3.07 per month, by reducing the cost of energy from 23.16 to 22.39 cents per kWh .

“The Energy Bureau is aware of the motion of January 16. Regarding the deviation of the estimates for fuel purchases and energy purchases, nothing to provide at this time. The reference deviation will be addressed during the next determination of factors to be issued on or before March 31, 2024,” the NEPR stipulated in a two page resolution dated Wednesday.

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The review to be completed in March will define the rates that will apply to customers from April to June.

In the motion of January 16, the company had specified that, in December, the collections and expenses related to the purchase of fuel produced a net income of $17.2 million, while, for the purchase of energy, the excess profits were of $6.8 million.

“Taking the aforementioned into consideration, for December 2023, there was excess income of $24,043,112.68,” LUMA Energy detailed.

However, the consortium requested that the NEPR address the deviation in the quarterly review, instead of resorting to the so-called accelerated adjustment that can be activated when projections and actual income and expenses differ by more than $20 million in a month.

“LUMA highlights that there is a high degree of uncertainty around international oil prices. To mitigate volatility in customer bills, LUMA respectfully suggests that it would be prudent for NEPR to defer the December reconciliation until the March quarterly filing, so that the impact of January and February 2024 collections and expenditures can be incorporate,” indicated the network operator.

2024-01-26 15:02:49
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