Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority
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| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | May 2, 1941 |
| Jurisdiction | executive branch |
| Headquarters | San Juan, Puerto Rico |
| Agency executive |
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| Key document | |
| Website | www.aeepr.com |
The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) —Spanish: Autoridad de Energía Eléctrica (AEE)— is an electric power company and the government-owned corporation of Puerto Rico responsible for electricity generation, power transmission and power distribution in Puerto Rico. PREPA is the only entity authorized to conduct such business in Puerto Rico, effectively making it a government monopoly. The authority is ruled by a board of directors appointed by the governor with the advice and consent of the Senate.
PREPA was originally named the Puerto Rico Water Resources Authority (PRWRA) —Spanish: Autoridad de las Fuentes Fluviales (AFF)— which was created by Law No. 83 of May 2, 1941 during the governorship of Rexford G. Tugwell. Government-owned, PRWRA unified diverse regional and local electric power companies into one unified electric grid.
The board of directors is the governing body of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority. Its membership usually consists of private citizens who are supposed to represent the public interest and may or may not include exofficio political officeholders (typically the Secretary of Economic Development and Commerce). This inconsistency happens as the board's structure changes whenever a political party gains power, usually every 4–8 years. Once both the governor and the legislature of Puerto Rico belong to the same party, one of the earliest laws amended is the one governing the authority in order to change the board's composition. Once the new board is settled in, one of the very first acts enacted by the new board is to appoint a new executive director. This constant back and forth effectively makes the authority a highly politicized tool rather than a resource for the people of Puerto Rico, and, consequently, changes the vision, strategy, and plans of the authority every 4–8 years according to the political party in power.
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