Roberto López Román files House Bill 1370: damaged appliances and a credit after four hours

On August 24, 2026, Metro Puerto Rico reports that New Progressive Party representative Roberto López Román introduced House Bill 1370. It seeks a uniform procedure for customers to claim direct damage to refrigerators, air conditioners, medical equipment, and other appliances affected by outages, voltage fluctuations, and other electric events attributable to operator negligence, and creates an automatic bill credit when the interruption exceeds four hours. The measure is titled Automatic Outage Credit and Electric Consumer Protection Act. It was referred to the Consumer Affairs Commission.

The bill, according to Metro, wants to close a gap the Energy Bureau recognized: its enabling law did not grant it authority to order compensation for appliance damage. That left consumers in the operator's internal process or in the courts. It also responds to the Supreme Court decision in DACO v. LUMA Energy, LLC, which invalidated the ordinary-negligence liability waiver the Bureau had granted the operator administratively. The starting point is to show, by the greater weight of the evidence, that the breakdown was caused by a culpable or negligent act or omission of the operator. The operator would have to keep for at least five years the information to audit its determinations. Those who saw claims denied citing the already-invalidated waiver could ask for reevaluation within 180 days of effectiveness.

The process Metro details: filing with LUMA Energy, at no cost, in Spanish and English; acknowledgment in two business days; flexible evidence; inspection requested within ten business days; written determination in thirty calendar days, with fifteen more for just cause; a presumption of causation if there is an electric event at the service point and the equipment failed at once; review before the Bureau in sixty days, on the papers if the claim is 5,000 dollars or less. The Bureau could order repair, replacement, or reimbursement of diagnosis. The consumer is not obliged to exhaust that path before going to court, though they cannot collect twice.

Under Article 4, every end customer would have an automatic credit of the operator's own motion, with no application, when the interruption exceeds four consecutive hours. The operator would have up to two billing cycles to reflect it and could not recover that cost through the rate. The credit is not a full payment or a waiver of the property-damage claim. The measure imposes monthly metrics and stepped administrative fines. Metro does not publish the credit amount per hour. It is not invented.

On the 24th, El Nuevo Día covered House Bill 1364 so LUMA Energy not close complaints without resolving them. 1370 is appliances and an outage credit. Two bills, two URLs. On the 20th, NotiCel covered the Bureau giving LUMA Energy ten days to update temporary generation. It is not used to read refrigerators. What remain are the four hours, the 5,000 dollar documentary threshold, and Roberto López Román. A reader who wants the articles has the Metro URL at the foot.

Source: Metro Puerto Rico. https://www.metro.pr/noticias/2026/08/24/representante-radica-medida-que-busca-establecer-pasos-para-el-pago-de-enseres-danados-provocados-por-fallas-en-el-sistema-electrico