Carta de La Junta Sobre La AEE
Carta de La Junta Sobre La AEE
Carta de La Junta Sobre La AEE
BY ELECTRONIC MAIL
Since the Board sent its Notice of Violation for the Proposed Fiscal Plan for PREPA, dated
February 5, 2018, we have worked cooperatively and collaboratively with you and your advisors
to address the violations detailed therein, as well as additional requirements that we have outlined
in correspondence, oral and written, with you and your advisors. After carefully reviewing the
most recent proposed Fiscal Plan for PREPA, dated March 23, 2018 (the “Latest Fiscal Plan”), the
Board has concluded that the following issues must be addressed through revisions to the Latest
Fiscal Plan before the Board can certify that the Latest Fiscal Plan satisfies the requirements set
forth in Section 201(b)(1) of PROMESA. The Board is also sending, under separate cover, a
technical appendix that provide additional details on these issues.
Aspirational rate projections that fall below 20 c/kWh by FY2023: The Latest Fiscal
Plan must include rate projections, inclusive of all legacy obligations, that can meet this
target and outline a path to achieving it from lower fuel and purchased power costs, lower
non-fuel operational costs, savings from CILT reform, and a modernized grid funded by
both private investment and the federal government. Further, the Latest Fiscal Plan must
show a year-over-year decline from current prices to FY2023.
Rate design principles: The rate structure section of the Latest Fiscal Plan must include
an affirmative statement that PREPA commits to low-cost and reliable power as the
primary goal of its rate design, that rate design and implementation support economic
growth and competitiveness, and that any new rate design include fair and equitable cost
allocation across the customer base.
Specific targets for grid reliability and resiliency: The Latest Fiscal Plan must commit
to improving reliability metrics relative to median U.S. mainland utility performance, and
must incorporate specific resiliency targets to demonstrate that commitment.
Financial statements for steady state financial projections: The Latest Fiscal Plan must
include a detailed revenue requirement statement and show the impact of planned
operational initiatives in the steady state financial projections.
Post-certification reporting requirements: In the interest of providing increased
transparency on the recovery and transformation of PREPA detailed in the Latest Fiscal
Plan, the Latest Fiscal Plan must include plans for implementing and/or reporting on: all
contracts under Title III, CILT reform, results of the Workplan 180 initiative, and
procurement for limited new utility-scale distributed renewables generation.
Cash management reporting requirements: The Latest Fiscal Plan must include plans
for implementing and/or reporting on cash management and liquidity measures against its
stated goal of achieving cash neutrality by the first quarter of 2019.
Pension reform: Consistent with the Board’s requirement for the Commonwealth’s Fiscal
Plan, the Board requires that the Latest Fiscal Plan include the following pension savings
measures and reflect them in the financial projections: benefit accruals are frozen and all
employees are enrolled in defined contribution plans with segregated, self-directed
accounts, and benefits are reduced progressively so that on average the reduction is roughly
10% for the entire group of retirement system members but there is no reduction for those
with combined retirement plan and Social Security benefits below the poverty level of
$1,000 per month.
Pension underfunding: The Board requires that PREPA provide, within 30 days of receipt
of this letter, an estimate of the underfunded pension liability under a range of rate of return
scenarios, in collaboration with the Board’s actuarial consultant. This estimate should use
an updated report from the pension system if available, and existing information if not
available, noting downside risks. Given that a current estimate is not available at this time,
the financial projections in the Latest Fiscal Plan should not assume payment of
outstanding pension obligations to address underfunding
Recalculate financial projections using the Board’s macroeconomic variables: The
financial projections in the Latest Fiscal Plan must be adjusted to be consistent with the
Board’s macroeconomic projections.
Additional updates to financial projections: In addition, the steady state financial
projections must be updated to remove the impact of behind the meter revenue
enhancement, and reduce income from PREPA NET given its assumed sale in FY2020.
Additional updates
Subsidiaries: The Latest Fiscal Plan must include in the steady state financial projections
all subsidiaries and affiliates, which, to the Board’s knowledge, are: PREPA Holdings,
LLC; Interamerican Energy Sources, LLC; Employees Retirement System; PREPA
Networks, LLC; and PREPA Networks. Moreover, the Latest Fiscal Plan must include a
plan to privatize PREPA NET by FY2020.
Debt sustainability: The Board has not made any determination about the size of a
transition charge as part of a debt restructuring. Accordingly, the debt sustainability
analysis in the Latest Fiscal Plan may show various scenarios for various transition charges,
but should not select just one.
Regulator: The Latest Fiscal Plan should not include any discussion of the energy sector
regulator, other than a brief summary of what is in the Commonwealth Fiscal Plan, because
it is the Commonwealth that will address the new energy regulator, not PREPA as the
regulated entity.
Transaction: The Latest Fiscal Plan must clarify the role of the FOMB, PREPA, and
Government in the Transaction. However, the Latest Fiscal Plan should not detail the
structure or criteria for the Transaction given that this will be determined through
engagement with the market and the public.
IRP: The targets for the IRP will be consistent with the transformational scenario in the
Latest Fiscal Plan.
The Board requires that PREPA submit a revised version of the Latest Fiscal Plan, in .pdf and .ppt,
that addresses the foregoing issues, along with accompanying financial models, debt sustainability
analysis, and all supporting materials, by April 5, 2018 at 5:00 p.m. AST.
Sincerely,
Andrew G. Biggs
Carlos M. García
Arthur J. González
José R. González
Ana J. Matosantos
David A. Skeel, Jr.