Puerto Rico’s bankrupt power authority, PREPA, has appointed Walter Higgins as its new chief executive officer, the utility said on Tuesday, on the six-month anniversary of Hurricane Maria’s destruction of the island’s power grid, Reuters reported. Higgins was CEO of Bermuda-based Ascendant Group Ltd from 2012 to 2016, and has 40 years of experience in energy industry management roles, PREPA said in a statement. He will succeed interim Executive Director Justo Gonzalez. Maria struck Puerto Rico in September as its most destructive storm in 90 years, cutting electricity to all 3.4 million of the U.S. territory’s residents. Six months later, tens of thousands remain in the dark. The storm proved the downfall of ex-CEO Ricardo Ramos, who resigned in November after a U.S. congressional committee launched a probe into PREPA’s awarding of a no-bid, $300 million repair contract to tiny, Montana-based Whitefish Energy Holdings.
