Governor Jenniffer González on Friday welcomed with optimism the appointment of Puerto Rican engineer Janisse Quiñones as the new chief executive officer (CEO) of LUMA Energy, effective March 30, and invited her to assist in the “exit process” of the consortium in charge of the transmission and distribution system.

"I am glad that there are changes. I am willing to sit down with the new president to improve the service to our people," the governor said at a press conference in Juncos, where she announced the construction of a new filtration plant.

However, she stressed that the record “has been clear” about canceling LUMA’s contract, even if they bring in new people to run the company.

“I sat down with the entire LUMA team when I came to the governorship. I looked for them to make changes. They didn’t happen“, she emphasized.

She said that she remains attentive to the information transcended against Quiñones about working, in 2018, in Cobra, a company singled out for corruption of federal funds after the recovery of hurricane Maria, a year earlier, and mentioned the federal Senate investigation into “wildfire management in California,” where the engineer headed the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.

LUMA announced Wednesday the appointment of Quiñones as a replacement for Juan Saca, who has held the position since 2023 and will now serve as an advisor to the consortium’s CEO and Board of Directors.

"Right now, they have a change of CEO and I hope that helps in this process of getting our people out. That they don’t have to struggle with load relays because there is generation. We have generation reserve. They no longer have that excuse“, González added.

On the other hand, the governor assured that talks with the Fiscal Oversight Board (FOSB) on tax relief are ahead of schedule, according to information provided by the secretary of the Interior and executive director of the Autoridad de Asesoría Financiera y Agencia Fiscal (Aafaf), Francisco Domenech.

“They are very close, I am informed by the director of the Office of Management and Budget (Orlando Rivera Berríos) and the director of Afaf, to reach some agreements with the identification of some items," she said.

González again acknowledged that the benefit could be less than expected. “If it had to be less (relief), well, let the recommendation be made and we can do it.”

The exchange of information between the government and the JSF regarding the proposed tax relief for the current planillas cycle was extended in recent weeks after the agency gave the Aafaf until February 27 to certify that the measure does not violate the fiscal plan.

“The reality is that the Board wants to make some reserve accounts and use another type of item, so the instructions I have given is that we evaluate the largest number of segments of the original proposal that was filed so that people can receive this benefit now," the governor emphasized.

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This content was translated from Spanish to English using artificial intelligence and was reviewed by an editor before being published.