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/ Wednesday, March 31, 2021
Wayne Stensby reported that LUMA has received 13,000 job applications from non-PREPA workers. >Josian E. Bruno Gómez
LUMA President Rejects Possible Amendments to PPP Contract Affirms that the agreement is ‘lawful and fully ratified’
W Giovanna Garofalo
ggarofalo@wjournalpr.com
@giopgarofalo
ayne Stensby, president and CEO of LUMA Energy, reiterated the company’s rejection of amendments to the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) contract with the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) on the island’s transmission and distribution systems. Speaking at a round table with members of the press, Stensby suggested that discussing the possibility of negotiations to alter the contract — which comes into full effect on June 1— “serves as a distraction on the important issues, which is let’s get started and let’s make improvements for customers.” THE WEEKLY JOURNAL asked if LUMA is therefore unwilling to amend the “force majeure” clause in the contract, which would reportedly allow the company to desist from complying with the contractual agreement in the event that a natural disaster impacts the island and causes serious damage to the electrical system. The clause on “acts of God” is common in many business contracts. To this, Stensby asserted that neither LUMA nor its parent company, Canadian Utilities Limited, are “going anywhere.” “We formed LUMA because we have this,
frankly, expertise and capability in storm response as well as all the other aspects of operating a world-class utility. Our parent company is one of the organizations that move toward storms, we don’t run away from storms. In the 2020 season alone, we responded with more than 2 million hours across 20 named storms across more than 40 utilities in the U.S. So, we understand storms, we understand storm response, we understand the importance of emergency response and the infrastructure that it takes in order to facilitate that. This idea that, again, I think was an attempt to mischaracterize the situation, we’re not going anywhere. We’re here for 15 years and we’re going to make it better,” he affirmed. Moreover, the CEO noted that the investment community worldwide is “paying attention” to how Puerto Rico secures contractual obligation in this process to assess PPP opportunities in these types of transformations. The contract, approved last year, has been under scrutiny by the Puerto Rico House Committee for Economic Development, Planning, Telecommunications, Public-Private Partnerships and Energy. The Electrical Industry and Irrigation Workers Union (Utier by its Spanish acronym) has been the most vocal group against this agreement, claiming that it will increase energy rates, a charged that Stensby denied. “The contract is lawful and it is fully ratified. And perhaps most importantly, the contract and the transformation is good for customers and it’s what customers are screaming for, a point that seems to be at all times missing from the dialogue, missing from the conversation, and missing from the approach that’s been undertaken by the inquiry,” he said. As reported by THE WEEKLY JOURNAL, an Oct. 2020 report by the Puerto Rico Chamber
of Commerce revealed that 60 percent of survey participants would support the privatization of the island’s energy infrastructure if it would lower rates. Meanwhile, Stensby lambasted the legislative hearing held on March 21 in which he was asked to provide “private details” about his life and his salary. “Frankly, we are not going to disclose the names and details of our Board members and my salary, and other related items,” he said, adding that publicly traded but privately-owned companies have an obligation to keep those things personal.
Evaluating Job Applications
Stensby also reported that the company has received 13,000 job applications from Puerto Rico residents who are not currently employed by PREPA, as well as 1,300 applications from PREPA employees. “In summary, I think recruitment is going well. We will be ready for June 1st, and we’re just going to continue to work through with it,” he stated. In addition, he highlighted that the company is willing to send PREPA line workers “at our cost and expense” to participate in a training center. “We’ve gone public to say that for all the PREPA line workers that are interested in LUMA, send your application in. We would love to be able to host you at this advanced training center, both in order to allow a very wholesome and one-onone assessment and to understand their areas of development and capability, but also to give line workers a bit of a perspective of who we are and the capability that we bring in, and the seriousness behind safety and skill training, which is a very important criteria of who we are,” he said.
