The Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico announced that its members certified this Friday a new Fiscal Plan for the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) that reflects updated projections of electricity demand and costs and outlines efficient disbursement of more than $15 billion in federal funds to make significant investments in the energy system.
The Oversight Board will amend the Plan of Adjustment to restructure more than $10 billion of debt and other claims against PREPA before the pension claims.
“The guiding principle of all debt restructurings is sustainability,” said Oversight Board Chairman David Skeel.
“The objective is to stabilize PREPA. The Oversight Board has been carefully and objectively analyzing how much debt PREPA can service and made that determination based strictly on the most recent data available. The Fiscal Plan certified by the Oversight Board provides a roadmap to achieve a viable energy system for Puerto Rico, which will provide more reliable and cleaner electricity to residents and businesses.
The executive director of the Oversight Board, Robert F. Mujica Jr., stated: “the Fiscal Plan has defined the successful transformation of Puerto Rico’s energy system, a transformation that has made significant progress by breaking the cycle of embezzlement, lack of investment and low performance of PREPA’s inefficient monopoly. PREPA is not over. The electricity is still unreliable. But the fundamental pieces are already in place. The implementation of the Fiscal Plan thus far has created an energy system that can and will improve over time.”
