Genera PR warned the Puerto Rico Energy Bureau (PREB) that the agency’s repeal of the Generation Maintenance Reserve (GMR) has sharply limited its ability to perform basic upkeep across the island’s power plants, prompting the operator to request $16 million in funding drawn from the system’s FY2026 under‑collection.
In a filing this week, Genera, the private operator of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority’s legacy power plants, said the elimination of the GMR in PREB’s April 15 Final Rate Order “significantly limits Genera’s ability to perform basic plant maintenance activities,” including groundskeeping, pest control, waste disposal, janitorial services, air‑conditioning upkeep, and other day‑to‑day operational needs. The company added that the loss of the reserve also constrains its ability to respond to forced outages, carry out reliability‑driven maintenance, and meet long‑term service agreement obligations.
The funding request does not originate from a new budget proposal. Instead, it reflects Genera’s 16.22% share of a $98.7 million reconciliation amount that PREB has already determined must be recovered from customers in Fiscal Year 2027. PREB calculated that the electric system under‑collected $98,747,153 during FY2026, and each operator is entitled to recover a portion of that amount based on its share of the approved revenue requirement, which totals $1.7 billion. Because Genera represents 16.22% of system costs, its allocation totals $16,016,788.
Genera initially submitted a higher figure, but PREB ordered the company to revise its request to match its established allocation. The operator complied and resized its proposal to the $16 million cap.
The revised request is divided into three categories. These are $5.2 million for auxiliary equipment replacements; $8.06 million for general plant maintenance, and $2.7 million for non‑maintenance expenditures tied to ongoing reliability projects, according to the June 9 document.
Genera emphasized that these activities cannot be funded through FEMA Public Assistance, noting that federal rules exclude routine operations and maintenance. The company said it evaluated all available federal options but found no eligible funding source for the work.
The operator also warned that more than $192 million in repairs and reliability needs identified for FY2026–FY2028 lack federal funding and will require local resources.
PREB will now evaluate Genera’s revised request as part of its review of the FY2027 Joint Reconciliation Plan Amendment.
