LUMA Energy says it won’t be able to operate the massive transformer it brought to Santa Isabel

After investing $1 million and taking weeks to plan, Luma Energythe person in charge of Puerto Rico’s electricity transmission and distribution system, said that the huge transformer they had moved to Santa Isabel to stabilize electrical service to that city, as well as Como and Aibonito, had failed.

As the consortium noted in a written statement, in the midst of tests after the transformer was successfully energized, “the equipment failed due to an internal problem” that was not described.

“We cannot operate a transformer that has failed such important tests.”LUMA Energy said in written statements.

The company said service in the three towns would not be affected as it continued its “emergency procedures” and would seek to mobilize a replacement transformer from Maunabo.

It is not known how much this new conversion will cost.

Movement from Caguas to Santa Isabel, for the huge unusable transformer, At a cost of $4 million.

“As we have said over the past month, we will continue with our contingency plan, which includes moving a replacement transformer from Maunabo. Service to customers in the area will not be affected for the next four to six weeks while the replacement transformer is installed and tested for safety and reliability,” they said.

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The problems with electrical service in the municipalities mentioned began on June 2, when a transformer broke down in Santa Isabel, which led to a power outage in that municipality, as well as in Como and Aibonito.

Hindson Martinez, LUMA’s transmission lines manager, said at a news conference in early June that they had identified “internal equipment failures” that led the technical team to conclude that replacement was appropriate, but he did not specify the cause of the failure.

In that area, the damaged transformer was the only means of transmitting electricity due to damage to the system during Hurricane Maria seven years ago, which was never repaired.

Mayor Como’s response

Mayor of Como Juan Carlos Garcia PadillaHe reacted angrily to LUMA’s announcement, and asked Governor Pedro R. Pierluisi Urrutia, as well as state and federal agencies, to take action to resolve his municipality’s electricity problem once and for all.

According to him, it will take another six weeks to pack another huge transformer to Santa Isabel.

“The LUMA president called to inform him that the transformer did not pass the required tests and that it would be necessary to bring another transformer from Maunabo. This will take another six weeks of suffering for our residents and we are not willing to accept that. We cannot take it anymore, Como is the city most affected by the voltage changes that have affected everyone. I ask you to meet and act responsibly until this situation is resolved. We will not wait another six weeks, this is unacceptable.”

“Today we have a non-functioning transformer and thousands of residents are suffering from the terrible decisions that were made throughout this emergency,” he concluded.

Juan Dalmau expresses himself

Meanwhile, the candidate for governor of the Puerto Rican Independence Party-Citizens Triumph Movement alliance, Juan Dalmau, sees the “useless transformer as the latest in a series of errors and horrors in the management of energy in the red and blue bipartisan zone.”

“After PREPA went bankrupt, using it as a partisan political hideout and using its budget as a financing machine for its administration’s budget shortfalls, they opened the door to LUMA and Genera with their privatization monopolies. These companies do not respond to the people of Puerto Rico, nor do the leaders of Benepe and Pepedes.”

“It is the last straw that was needed to prove the embezzlement of funds and incompetence without any oversight or supervision. I reiterate that I am cancelling their contracts.