Billed for power you never received: objecting freezes the charge

It is an emergency law with permanent effect on one specific kind of bill. Its statement of motives describes the situation it addressed: in condominiums and multifamily complexes the power was produced by generators and **that power was being measured or counted through the Authority’s meters**, registering consumption even though neither the condominium nor its residents were receiving any service. The Legislature called it by its name: allowing that practice would be allowing charges for energy services not rendered. The prohibition was expressly extended to commercial buildings, mixed residential and commercial buildings and to any other customer — residential, commercial or industrial — paying at their own cost for the power they needed to keep operating.

Any customer billed or charged for consumption reflected on their meter **as a consequence of power generated by the use of an electric generator or power plant** that was not the product of the Authority’s generation and distribution. There is a scope limit worth knowing before claiming, and it is in Article 5: this act’s provisions **shall apply only in claims asserting that the Authority did not supply service due to failures or interruptions caused by emergency situations**, such as blackouts lasting more than twenty-four (24) hours, prolonged interruptions resulting from an atmospheric phenomenon and any other emergency situation decreed by the Governor by Executive Order. It is not a general billing-dispute statute.

• That you were billed or charged for consumption reflected on the meter as a consequence of power generated by a generator or power plant, and not by the Authority’s generation and distribution.Verified against the official source
• That the claimed period falls within an emergency situation under Article 5: a blackout of more than twenty-four (24) hours, a prolonged interruption from an atmospheric phenomenon, or an emergency decreed by the Governor by Executive Order.Verified against the official source

• The objected bill. The law requires no proof of the generator or diesel receipts: the determining factor it sets itself is whether the sector, urbanización, condominium or complex where you live had service during the period in which the objected consumption is reflected.

1. 1

   Step 1: The prohibition

   Article 1 says: **the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority is prohibited from billing and collecting from its customers any consumption reflected on their meters as a consequence of generation and consumption of electricity not generated and distributed by the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority itself, in emergency situations; such as blackouts lasting more than 24 hours, prolonged interruptions resulting from an atmospheric phenomenon and any other emergency situation decreed by the Governor by Executive Order**. A note on names, so as not to attribute to the source something it does not say: the law names the "Electric Power Authority" and, later, the "Puerto Rico Energy Commission", and the OGP compilation **carries no annotation substituting those names** — its only note is that Act 272-2018 added Article 4. We reproduce the names as the law writes them and do not assert how they correspond today to the service operator or the regulator.

2. 2

   Step 2: Objecting freezes the charge

   Article 2 is the part that changes the customer’s position, and it is worth quoting in full because it is strong: **the mere claim or objection to an Authority bill, under this Act’s parameters, shall have the effect of freezing collection of the objected amounts, until adjudication of the claim filed is completed**. And it adds the practical consequence: **any delay or amount objected to by a customer under this Act shall not be considered for purposes of a service suspension order**. That is, objecting is not merely asking for a review: it halts collection of what is objected and removes that amount from the suspension calculation. The customer may claim so that the bill adjustment, refund or credit is carried out, as applicable.

3. 3

   Step 3: The deciding factor: was there service in your sector?

   The law does not ask you to prove how much diesel you burned. Article 2 sets the criterion: **for adjudicating these claims, the Authority shall use as the determining factor whether the sector, urbanización, condominium or housing complex where the customer resides had electric service during the period in which the objected consumption is reflected**. And the consequence is written without qualification: **if the customer is located in a sector where there was no electric service during the period in which the objected consumption was reflected, the claim must be resolved in the customer’s favor, with no need for further proceedings, such as hearings or requiring customers to appear**. That last clause is what prevents the customer from being asked to attend a hearing to prove what the agency itself knows.

4. 4

   Step 4: If you disagree: reconsideration and de novo review

   Article 2 closes with the review ladder. If the customer disagrees with the initial determination, they **must request in writing the reconsideration of that initial determination before a higher-ranking official**, within the term the Energy Commission sets by regulation; that higher-ranking official **must issue the final determination within the term the Energy Commission sets by regulation**. And above that: **the Puerto Rico Energy Commission shall review de novo the final decision** of the Authority regarding any objection filed under this Act. "De novo" means the review is not limited to checking whether the earlier decision was reasonable: the matter is looked at again. **We do not publish the concrete reconsideration or final determination deadlines**, because the law does not set them: it refers them to the Commission’s regulation, which is not in the legal text.

5. 5

   Step 5: If the agency misses its own deadlines, you win

   Article 3 gave thirty (30) days from the law’s approval for the Authority and the Energy Commission to conform their procedures, regulations and billing and collection mechanisms, and ordered the regulation issued **through the emergency mechanism** of Section 2.13 of Act 38-2017 (Uniform Administrative Procedure), with no need for the Governor’s certification. It further required them to adopt, by regulation or circular letter, **an expedited procedure to resolve any objection to bills** while the emergency persists, so that it is easy, fast, affords due process of law and allows discrepancies to be settled diligently. And it closes with the rule most worth knowing: **if the Authority fails to comply with any of the terms established under the regulation approved in compliance with this Act’s provisions, the objection shall be adjudicated in the customer’s favor**.

6. 6

   Step 6: Generators keep being certified

   Article 4, added by Act 272-2018, closes a door that could have opened as a side effect: **the Authority shall continue granting certification and/or authorization for installing or replacing electric generators in residential, commercial or multiple-occupancy buildings**, whether newly built or existing, in accordance with the specifications, standards and technical requirements in force before this Act. And it says so expressly: **this Act’s provisions may not be used by the Authority as justification for halting the corresponding certification and/or approval** for newly installed generators or for replacing previously installed ones, provided they meet those specifications. Article 7 adds a supremacy clause: while the described emergency situations persist, this Act’s provisions shall have supremacy over any other law.

The claim is filed with the corporation issuing the bill, following, the law says, the internal procedures established for billing and collection claims; reconsideration is requested in writing before a higher-ranking official; and the final decision is reviewed **de novo** before the energy regulator, which the law calls the Puerto Rico Energy Commission. What we do not publish: the reconsideration and final determination deadlines, because the law refers them to the regulator’s regulation; the form, address or phone; and the content of the expedited procedure Article 3 orders adopted. That is why processing time stays unverified. Nor do we assert how the names "Electric Power Authority" and "Puerto Rico Energy Commission" correspond today to the service operator and regulator: the compilation carries no substitution annotation and we do not supply one.

• Paying the disputed amount for fear of disconnection: the mere objection freezes collection and that amount is not considered for a suspension order.
• Objecting verbally and without a copy: keep dated evidence of the claim filed.
• Believing you must prove the generator’s cost: the determining factor is whether your sector had service in that period.
• Accepting a summons to a hearing when your sector had no service: the law says the claim proceeds in that case with no further proceedings.
• Letting reconsideration lapse: it must be requested in writing before a higher-ranking official.
• Assuming review before the regulator is limited to what was already decided: the law says it is de novo.
• Using this law for an ordinary billing dispute: Article 5 limits it to interruptions from emergency situations.
• Applying this law to water service: it addresses electric service only.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Negociado de Energía de Puerto Rico (NEPR)

  Negociado de Energía

  bvirtualogp.pr.gov

• Puerto Rico Energy Bureau

  Energía

  energia.pr.gov