Paying energy bills could add pressure to municipalities already facing financial strain.
LUMA has notified the Puerto Rico Energy Bureau that 18 municipalities have already exceeded their electricity consumption limits under the Contribution in Lieu of Taxes (CILT) program for fiscal year 2026, triggering required billing and collection procedures for any usage above those caps.
The July 1 filing, submitted in compliance with the Energy Bureau’s April 15 Final Resolution and Order on electricity rates, is the first formal assessment of municipal consumption under the new rate framework.
The excess-consumption findings have financial implications for the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA): municipalities that exceed their caps must be billed for the overage, creating new receivables, even as the utility remains under strict fiscal oversight. The CILT program, which offsets municipal energy costs in exchange for tax obligations, has long been a pressure point in PREPA’s fiscal planning. At the same time, those bills could add pressure to municipalities already facing financial strain.
According to the report, the municipalities that have exceeded their FY2026 CILT caps are Adjuntas, Aguada, Camuy, Canóvanas, Ceiba, Cidra, Fajardo, Florida, Guaynabo, Gurabo, Juana Díaz, Las Marías, Mayagüez, Morovis, Naranjito, Orocovis, Quebradillas, and Yauco. The data shows that several municipalities—including Adjuntas, Camuy, Ceiba, Cidra, Juana Díaz, Morovis, Naranjito, and Quebradillas—exceeded their caps as early as February. Las Marías surpassed its limit in December, which LUMA said corresponds to the second quarter of the fiscal year. The remaining municipalities crossed their thresholds during the third quarter, a pattern LUMA described as consistent with historical behavior.
LUMA also identified five municipalities projected to exceed their CILT limits by the end of FY2026: Aibonito, Barceloneta, Comerío, Utuado, and Yabucoa. The projections are based on average consumption during the first 11 months of the fiscal year, which LUMA used to estimate June usage. The company noted that the figures remain subject to rebilling adjustments.
The data also highlights larger urban centers with high overall consumption, including San Juan, which reported more than 67 million kWh from July through May, and Bayamón, with 24.4 million kWh over the same period. While these municipalities did not show partial‑month excess flags, their scale underscores the financial exposure PREPA faces under the CILT mechanism.
The Energy Bureau had ordered LUMA to identify by July 1 which municipalities may be exceeding the electricity usage covered by CILT. Under the order, any municipality that exceeds its annual cap must be billed for the excess and treated as a debtor for collection purposes. LUMA’s analysis relied on actual consumption data through May 2026 and an estimated value for June, as directed by the April 15 order.
The filing also outlines the methodology LUMA plans to use for the next reporting cycle, due October 1 and covering FY2027. Because only two months of actual consumption data will be available by then, LUMA said it will use a forecasting model based on historical monthly averages from FY2023 through FY2025. For example, September 2026 consumption will be estimated using the average September usage from those three fiscal years.
