Oversight board says it will help speed up projects to fix Puerto Rico’s electric grid

Associated Press

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A federal control board that oversees Puerto Rico’s finances says it will step in to help speed up projects to fix the island’s crumbling power grid as widespread outages persist. Robert Mujica, the board’s executive director, said Wednesday that only $1.2 billion out of more than $17 billion authorized by U.S. Congress to stabilize the U.S. territory’s grid and improve reliability has been spent in the seven years since Hurricane Maria hit the island as a Category 4 storm. He said the situation “is not acceptable” as he rejected calls that the government cancel its contract with Luma Energy, which operates the transmission and distribution of power.