Subject: RE:
From: Craig Smith <[email-masked]>
To: Tina Flournoy <[email-masked]>, Ami Desai-Clinton Foundation <[email-masked]>, "[email-masked]'" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 22 Oct 2013 21:23:41 +0000

They are all pushing that something happen and agree that PRPPA is the root of the problem.  Needless to say they have somewhat different ideas as to what should exactly happen but don't seem dug in on their positions as of yet.  They think it will be a harder fight than this call would seem to indicate.

They love the Vieques/Culebra idea.  They thought doing just one of the islands would be a big win so doing both they feel is a major move - if it actually happens.  In the past the Commonwealth people had proposed something similar in Vieques and the Statehooders in Culebra. (I think that is how they matched up).  Both proposals went nowhere.

From: Tina Flournoy [mailto:[email-masked]]
Sent: Tuesday, October 22, 2013 5:09 PM
To: Craig Smith; John Podesta; Ami Desai-Clinton Foundation
Subject: RE:

Have any of our friends raised this?

From: Craig Smith [mailto:[email-masked]]
Sent: Tuesday, October 22, 2013 4:54 PM
To: Tina Flournoy; John Podesta; Ami Desai-Clinton Foundation
Subject: RE:

Finally, they are getting at the core of the problem.

From: Tina Flournoy [mailto:[email-masked]]
Sent: Tuesday, October 22, 2013 4:50 PM
To: John Podesta; Craig Smith; Ami Desai-Clinton Foundation
Cc: Tina Flournoy
Subject:

Another proposal to overhaul Prepa filed
By : JOHN MARINO
[email-masked]<mailto:[email-masked]>; [email-masked]<mailto:[email-masked]>
Edition: October 10, 2013 | Volume: 41 | No: 39

Aponte Dalmau measure would create new entity, diversify power production
Pressure for big change in the way the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (Prepa) does business continued to grow last week, with a Popular Democratic Party lawmaker proposing to eliminate the public corporation and replace it with a new entity that would maintain control of the distribution system, but open the power generation market to further private-sector participation.
Rep. Javier Aponte Dalmau said the move is aimed at boosting transparency and efficiency as well as driving down power costs.
"There is no way to reduce power costs if we don't move toward a process of diversifying energy sources, particularly clean and renewable ones," Aponte said, adding that Prepa has been unable to improve operational efficiency to deliver better and more economic service. "Prepa and its operational and administrative policy aren't consonant with Puerto Rico's economic reality. We need immediate change."
This was just the latest of a wave of proposals aimed at reforming or eliminating Prepa, as officials from both major political parties have come to the realization that Puerto Rico needs lower electricity costs to create jobs and get the economy growing again.
New Progressive Party (NPP) Rep. Ángel "Gary" Rodríguez Miranda of Bayamón proposed privatizing all the property and facilities that comprise the local electrical system, including the transmission and distribution lines. He also called for a House study into the feasibility of such a move.
Meanwhile, NPP Sen. Larry Seilhamer called for a partial privatization of Prepa aimed at lowering energy costs and strengthening the economy. Seilhamer supports privatizing the generation of power and refocusing Prepa's role into purely the transmission system.
For their part, Senate President Eduardo Bhatia and Senate Finance Committee Chairman José Rafael Nadal Power have called for the construction of new privately developed powerplants, noting that the private EcoEléctrica natural gas and Applied Energy Services Corp. coal plants are the cheapest and most efficient on the island.
Bhatia said "exorbitant energy costs" will be high on the Senate's agenda.
Aponte's measure proposes the creation of a Puerto Rico Energy Corp. to replace Prepa. The proposed new corporation would evaluate the export and sale of power to the Dominican Republic and islands around the Caribbean.
Aponte is also calling for the creation of a board of directors, claims committee and bid board whose members can't be drawn from the ranks of Prepa officials.
Other proponents of change at Prepa have called for the creation of an independent regulatory board to referee the energy market and protect consumers against abuses. The board would not only be charged with setting prices, but could also order cuts in operational expenses, resolve disputes between parties and take other significant actions.
A task force named by Gov. Alejandro García Padilla recently recommended the creation of a new independent-regulatory board.