Complaint before the Energy Bureau (everything that is not the bill)

It is the complaint filed before the Puerto Rico Energy Bureau, the independent public entity created by Act 57-2014 to regulate and supervise the electricity industry and adjudicate cases and disputes in the energy sector. The Bureau itself summarises its functions in three: regulate, investigate and adjudicate. The complaint is filed with form NEPR-A02, which refers to Regulation No. 8543, the Regulation on Adjudicative Procedures, Notices of Non-compliance, Rate Review and Investigations. If yours is specifically a bill the company has already denied, there is a separate remedy — the Formal Bill Review, with form NEPR-C01 — and it has its own guide here.

Form NEPR-A02 collects the complainant’s general information — full name, physical address, postal address, phone, email, and if there is legal representation, their RUA number, postal address, email and phone — and the respondent’s, with two boxes to tick whether it is an individual or an Electric Service Company. The Bureau does not publish standing requirements or a filing deadline on the form, so this guide does not assert any: confirm them with the Clerk before filing.

• Examining the provisions of Regulation No. 8543 before completing the form, as NEPR-A02 itself instructs.Verified against the official source
• Completing every box and marking N/A where it does not apply. If more space is needed, using Supplementary Sheet NEPR-Z01.Verified against the official source
• Including the documents required under Regulation No. 8543 for each part of the form or its supplementary sheet.Verified against the official source
• Identifying the respondent by ticking whether it is an individual or an Electric Service Company.Verified against the official source

• Your full details as complainant: name, physical address, postal address, phone and email. If you have legal representation, also their RUA number, postal address, email and phone.
• The respondent’s details in the same detail.
• The Bureau does not list on the form which documents are required: it refers to Regulation No. 8543. Confirm them with the Clerk before filing.

1. 1

   Step 1: First rule out that it is a bill

   If the dispute is about a bill you already objected to with the company and were denied, the remedy is not this complaint but the Formal Bill Review, with form NEPR-C01, which has its own guide here and its own requirement of having exhausted the informal process. Using the wrong form delays the case.

2. 2

   Step 2: Check whether your matter falls within what the forum adjudicates

   Besides bill review, the Bureau lists complaints related to non-compliance with the country’s energy public policy, those related to the AEE’s non-compliance with the mandates of Act No. 83 of 1941, those about transmission or interconnection of electricity, and cases about contracts between the AEE and independent power producers. If your matter is distributed generation, interconnection or compliance, that is the door.

3. 3

   Step 3: Read Regulation 8543 before filling in

   It is not advice, it is the form’s instruction: when completing it, examine the provisions of Regulation No. 8543 and make sure you provide the required information. That same regulation defines which documents must be included, which the form does not list.

4. 4

   Step 4: Identify the respondent correctly

   The form gives two options: individual or Electric Service Company. Do not assume only a utility can be complained against. The details it asks for the respondent are the same as yours: full name, physical address, postal address, phone and email.

5. 5

   Step 5: Ask for the templates and confirm the deadlines

   The Bureau’s own checklist recommends asking the Clerk for templates of complaints, motions and other filings, which serve as a drafting reference. Use that call to confirm two things the form does not say: whether there is a deadline to file your complaint, and what notification duties towards the respondent fall to you. In the Formal Bill Review, the Bureau requires notifying the respondent within fifteen days and certifying service within ten more; do not assume they are the same for a complaint — ask. Clerk: (787) 523-0270 and (787) 523-0272, secretaria@energia.pr.gov.

Before the Clerk of the Puerto Rico Energy Bureau, with form NEPR-A02 and, if extra space is needed, Supplementary Sheet NEPR-Z01, both downloadable at energia.pr.gov/secretaria/formularios. Clerk: (787) 523-0270 and (787) 523-0272, secretaria@energia.pr.gov. The Bureau also publishes the general address nepr@jrsp.pr.gov.

• Using the complaint form for a denied bill, which goes through the Formal Bill Review.
• Filling in NEPR-A02 without having examined Regulation No. 8543, which the form itself instructs you to read.
• Not including the documents that regulation requires, because the form does not list them.
• Believing only a company can be complained against: the form also admits an individual.
• Leaving boxes blank instead of marking N/A.
• Assuming the bill review’s notification deadlines also apply to the complaint.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Negociado de Energía de Puerto Rico (NEPR)

  Negociado de Energía

  energia.pr.gov

• Form NEPR-A02 — Complaint (Regulation 8543)

  Negociado de Energía

  energia.pr.gov

• Energy Bureau — FAQ

  Negociado de Energía

  energia.pr.gov