Head of electric utility resigns

The executive director of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority resigned Friday amid questions about the slow repairs more than eight weeks after Hurricane Maria destroyed much of the electrical grid.

PREPA head Ricardo Ramos Rodríguez had come under close questioning about a $300 million contract the utility signed with the tiny Whitefish Energy firm instead of turning to larger more experienced networks of utilities that traditionally rush to aid storm-ravaged areas. The Whitefish Energy contract, whose rates were substantially higher than those paid to others, was later canceled.

Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rosselló announced the resignation, saying Ramos’s tenure in office had become “unsustainable.”

“The executive director is a professional. He has worked hard to restore the system in Puerto Rico, but understands that this is a context that has greatly distracted from what could be recovery,” Rosselló told reporters.

The governor said that he was recommending that the PREPA board of directors name Justo Gonzalez, a career employee who began his career with the authority in 1989, as interim director. During the news conference, the governor expressed frustration with the pace of power restoration to Puerto Rican households and businesses.

“We have faced a number of obstacles,” Rosselló said. “But I expect an effective transition.”

In recent weeks, Ramos had defended his decisions, saying that Whitefish had volunteered its services and had experience in rugged terrain like that in much of the commonwealth.

The ability of PREPA to manage money and contracts has also drawn attention from Congress, which is worried about how billions of dollars of recovery money might be handled.

Hours before tendering his resignation, Ramos appeared in a video on the PREPA Facebook page, explaining the cause of two major power outages this week that plunged large swaths of the San Juan metropolitan area back into darkness. The system has suffered a series of outages and weather challenges that have delayed the restoration of transmission and distribution lines.