Puerto Rico Panel Approves Power Utility Fee to Repay Debt
- A 3.10-cent per kilowatt hour fee will back new bonds
- Power utility is seeking to restructure $9 billion of debt
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Puerto Rico’s government-owned electricity provider won approval to impose a new surcharge on customers to repay bonds, a key step in the utility’s plan to restructure its $9 billion of debt.
The island’s energy commission Tuesday signed off on a 3.10-cent per kilowatt hour charge by the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, known as Prepa, according to a statement from the commission. The step is a crucial part of an agreement the utility reached in December, when investors agreed to take a 15 percent loss and suspend principal payments for five years by exchanging their bonds for new securities backed by the charge.