You are here: Home » Archives for Cathy Kunkel
Author Archive:
Cathy Kunkel
Energy Finance Analyst Cathy Kunkel has written reports and given expert testimony on the finances of Appalachian natural gas pipelines and drilling; electric utility mergers, rates and resource planning; energy efficiency; and Puerto Rico’s electrical system. She has degrees in physics from Princeton and Cambridge.
More than $14 billion in federal funds should be used to increase Puerto Rico renewable sources
Puerto Rico should take advantage of a unique opportunity to deploy billions of dollars of federal funding to create a resilient, decentralized electrical system based on renewable energy—an opportunity that neither the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) nor private operator LUMA Energy has shown any interest in pursuing. That was the core theme of […]
Más de $14 mil millones en fondos federales deben ser utilizados para aumentar las fuentes renovables de Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico debe aprovechar una oportunidad única para desplegar miles de millones de dólares de fondos federales para crear un sistema eléctrico resiliente y descentralizado basado en energía renovable, una oportunidad que ni la Autoridad de Energía Eléctrica de Puerto Rico (AEE) ni el operador privado LUMA Energy han mostrado interés en perseguir. Ese fue […]
Los cortes de energía y los retrasos en los servicios deberían sonar las alarmas para el futuro.
Más de dos semanas después de su gestión del sistema eléctrico de Puerto Rico, el contratista privado LUMA Energy no ha comenzado con buen pie. Los frecuentes cortes de energía y los retrasos en el servicio han puesto a prueba la paciencia de una base de clientes ya sobrecargada desde que LUMA Energy tomó el […]
Power outages and services delays should raise alarms for the future
More than two weeks into its management of Puerto Rico’s electrical system, private contractor LUMA Energy is not off to a good start. Frequent power outages and service delays have tested the patience of an already over-burdened customer base since LUMA Energy took control of the island’s electric system in a privatization switchover on June […]
FOMB approval highlights five years of its failure to solve budget problems
The Federal Oversight and Management Board (FOMB) and the Puerto Rico Energy Bureau (PREB) have each approved budgets for the electrical system for the fiscal year 2022. The FOMB’s budget demonstrates its abject failure since its inception to produce a transparent budget that demonstrates progress on savings initiatives and meeting the commonwealth’s renewable energy goals. […]
La aprobación por la JSAF pone de relieve cinco años de su fracaso en resolver problemas presupuestarios
La Junta de Supervisión y Administración Financiera para Puerto Rico (JSAF) y el Negociado de Energía de Puerto Rico (NEPR) han aprobado presupuestos para el sistema eléctrico para el año fiscal 2022. El presupuesto de la JSAF demuestra su abyecto fracaso desde su creación para producir un presupuesto transparente que demuestre el progreso en las […]
FOMB privatization plan pushes electrical workers to the margins
May 12, 2021 (IEEFA) ⎼ Why is the Financial Oversight and Management Board (FOMB) of Puerto Rico aggressively pushing a grid privatization contract that threatens to destroy the one asset the electrical system has—its workforce—while raising costs for the bankrupt island government? LUMA Energy is scheduled to take over the non-generation functions of the Puerto […]
Huge consulting fees highlight systemic problems with reform of island utility
April 29, 2021 (IEEFA) ⎼ The transformation and financial restructuring of Puerto Rico’s bankrupt electric power authority have generated more than $440 million in consulting contracts during the last seven years and could cost island residents more than $1 billion before completion, according to a study released today by the Institute for Energy Economics and […]
Las enormes comisiones de consultoría ponen de relieve los problemas sistémicos con la reforma de la utilidad de la isla
29 de abril de 2021 (IEEFA) – La transformación y reestructuración financiera de la Autoridad de Energía Eléctrica de Puerto Rico en bancarrota ha generado más de $440 millones en contratos de consultoría durante los últimos siete años y podría costar a los residentes de la isla más de $1,000 millones antes de su finalización, […]
Contractor that promised savings set to exceed budget even before taking over
Puerto Rico’s key electrical system privatization initiative has been a longshot to save money for the people of Puerto Rico—and the odds are getting longer, according to an analysis of the 15-year contract with LUMA Energy and its proposed budgets for the next three years. An Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) review […]
IEEFA: Puerto Rico has chance to use billions in federal aid for creation of resilient, renewable grid
More than $14 billion in federal funds should be used to increase Puerto Rico renewable sources
Puerto Rico should take advantage of a unique opportunity to deploy billions of dollars of federal funding to create a resilient, decentralized electrical system based on renewable energy—an opportunity that neither the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) nor private operator LUMA Energy has shown any interest in pursuing. That was the core theme of […]