Puerto Rico is once again suffering from power outages. In 2017, following Hurricane Maria, much of the Island was without power for nearly a year. Since then, power blackouts have repeatedly hit the territory. In early June, nearly 350,000 residents lost power when “overgrown vegetation” knocked out two power lines. Businesses in the capital city of San Juan went without electricity for more than a week.
This took place during a dangerous heat wave, and affected the water supply as well as the electric power supply. Classes at schools and universities were cancelled and there have been health effects as drugs requiring temperature control, such as insulin, have been exposed to the heat.
Velazquez responds
On June 14, Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-NY) wrote to the Department of Energy asking for greater accountability and for compensation for the economic effects of the blackouts.
“At a minimum, each consumer should be properly compensated for the economic losses they have experienced due to the blackouts,” Velazquez wrote. “Moreover, there must be increased transparency around the extent of the damage caused by the service interruptions under the private operators.”
According to her press release, Velazquez asked that Puerto Rico be included in the Interruption Cost Estimate (ICE) Calculator. This statistical tool allows governments and utilities to estimate the value of planned improvements by calculating the economic impact of outages.
The ICE is a web-based calculator that factors in various details about a power outage to estimate the associated economic costs. The user provides information about the outage, such as location, duration of outages, residential and business customers affected, and more. The calculator considers lost productivity, spoiled inventory due to lack of refrigeration, the economic value of the disruption to daily activities in homes, like using appliances or air conditioning, and emergency response costs. The ICE provides an estimated total economic cost of the power outage based on the user’s inputs and calculations.
The ICE doesn’t account for non-economic impacts, such as health risks or emotional distress caused by outages. Also, the initial data used in the tool’s development was primarily national, so results for specific locations may vary. The tool provides estimates for each state, but Puerto Rico is not included with the states. This is a further example of ongoing problems with data collection in the territories.
Compensation
“Immediate compensation for these losses is essential,” Velazquez said ins a statement, “and private operators must be held accountable for their failures.” The implication may be that Luma, the company responsible for Puerto Rico’s electrical grid, should pay for the costs to residential and business customers for the loss of business, costs of generators and spoiled food, and other expenses connected with the power outage. Governor Pierluisi made a similar demand at a press conference.
Luma, however, is currently struggling to repair the system. NBC reports that logistical problems are making it difficult for the utility to transport the required replacement parts to the locations where they are needed.
