If Federal Loans To WAPA Are Not Forgiven, Authority Says It Would Need To Raise Utility Rates

WAPA boss Lawrence Kupfer said during a hearing on Tuesday that peradventure its Community Disaster Loans (C.D.L.) provided by the federal government following Hurricanes Irma and Maria, were not eventually forgiven, WAPA would have to petition the Public Services Commission to raise utility rates to pay for the loans. Mr. Kupfer was responding to a question posed by Senator Nereida Rivera-O'Reilly during a hearing in the Committee on Finance. On July 1, 2018, WAPA raised utility rates approximately four cents per kilowatt hour. According to the authority, the change represented an increase of approximately $16 for a residential customer utilizing 400-kilowatt hours per month. It is important to note that federal disaster loans are generally forgiven over a period of time. However, that's not always the case, and with the U.S. Treasure seeking first-priority lien security from the local government to ascertain repayment, it is not guaranteed that the C.D.L. loans to WAPA to r...