Puerto Rico announced on Sunday that it plans to privatize electricity generation, a first for a U.S. territory facing chronic power outages as it struggles to rebuild a crumbling electric grid, the Associated Press reported. The move marks the beginning of the end for Puerto Rico’s Electric Power Authority, a behemoth long accused of corruption, mismanagement and inefficiency that holds some $9 billion in public debt — the largest of any government agency. Many Puerto Ricans already irate and fatigued by power outages were wary of the announcement, given that serious complaints about the length of outages, costly power bills and other issues arose after the island’s government privatized the transmission and distribution of power in June 2021. It was not immediately clear what effect, if any, the privatization would have on unsuccessful efforts so far to restructure the power company’s debt, with the government and some creditors going to court after several rounds of failed mediation talks.
