Judge Laura Taylor Swain sets the calendar for AEE Plan of Adjustment hearings

Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain of the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico issued a procedural order setting the final hearing calendar to evaluate confirmation of the Electric Power Authority (AEE) Debt Adjustment Plan under Title III of the federal PROMESA statute. The judicial decision schedules expert testimony, replies from unsecured creditors, and objections from pensioner and consumer committees ahead of the final confirmation hearing.

The plan presented by the Fiscal Oversight Board, headed by its chair David A. Skeel Jr. and its executive director Robert F. Mujica Jr., proposes cutting unsecured debt of more than $8,500 million to about $2,500 million through the issuance of new restructuring bonds. The central controversy turns on the so-called legacy charge or transition rate on the electric bills of residential, commercial, and industrial customers, a mechanism proposed to pay bondholders over the next three decades.

Labor and civic organizations, among them the Unión de Trabajadores de la Industria Eléctrica y Riego (UTIER) and the Alianza de Empleados Jubilados de la AEE, filed opposition motions arguing that any rate increase meant to pay unsustainable debt will choke household and industrial economies. For their part, AEE executive director Josué Colón Ortiz and the Negociado de Energía de Puerto Rico, chaired by Edison Avilés Deliz, have appeared in the proceeding to note the urgency of prioritizing capital investment in the transmission and distribution grid operated by LUMA Energy and the generating plants in Genera PR's charge over the financial claims.

Source: El Nuevo Día. https://www.elnuevodia.com/noticias/tribunales/notas/jueza-laura-taylor-swain-senala-vistas-para-plan-ajuste-deuda-aee/