A coalition of 28 organizations, including U.S. and Puerto Rican nonprofits, solar and battery companies, filed a Friend of the Court (Amicus) brief in federal court this week opposing the Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico (FOMB). The coalition states that FOMBs legal attack on Act 10 — a law that extends Puerto Rico’s net metering program through 2030 — threatens the island’s progress in solar energy and resilience.
Bill 10, which was signed into law in January this year, passed unanimously by Puerto Rico’s House and Senate and was not opposed by the island’s regulator. The law aims to ensure continued access to affordable solar energy for Puerto Ricans by providing solar customers with credits on their utility bills for each excess kWh of solar energy they share on the grid.
“10% of homes in Puerto Rico now have solar power with backup battery power thanks to net metering policies,” said PJ Wilson, executive director of the Solar and Energy Storage Association of Puerto Rico (SESA). “We are fighting to ensure that the other 90% can also do this.”
FOMB claims that Act 10 prevents Puerto Rico’s independent energy regulator, the Puerto Rico Energy Bureau, from preparing a study necessary to evaluate the impact of the current net metering and energy distribution program until at least 2031, and thus the Energy Bureau’s ability to regulate Puerto Rico’s energy sector undermines energy sector.
The Amicus Brief coalition supports defensive positions taken in court by defendant, Governor Pierluisi, and by the President of the Puerto Rico Senate, who has asked for the lawsuit to be dismissed on the grounds that the FOMB does not have the authority to to interfere with the implementation of Law 10. , a law that essentially just shifts the potential expiration date of a long-standing law from one year to the next.
The Letter explains that FOMB’s opposition to solar energy ignores the unanimous votes for Act 10 from all five political parties in Puerto Rico’s legislature, which spans the entire political spectrum. In fact, the bill has broad support, including a May 2024 letter from 21 members of Congress urging the FOMB to end its damaging attack on solar energy. A coalition of national and Puerto Rico nonprofits have also appealed to the White House to help.
“Net metering is more than a policy; it is a path to hope for Puerto Ricans who face frequent power outages and high energy costs,” said Javier Rúa Jovet, SESA Public Policy Director. “This coalition is standing up to defend net metering because Puerto Rico deserves a reliable, clean energy future that FOMB’s actions seek to undermine.”
FOMB is a temporary oversight agency created by the US Congress in 2016 in response to the island’s financial collapse at the time. The main task of the FOMB was to settle the island’s debts, and the entity will dissolve after all bankruptcies on the island have been resolved, Puerto Rico has regained access to the capital market and the government has balanced four budgets. All bankruptcies have currently been resolved, except that of PREPA, the island’s only electricity company.
News item from SESA
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