House subcommittee presses Luma Energy on staffing cuts, project delays and local outages

The House of Representatives’ Metro Region subcommittee held a public hearing to investigate reported reductions in Luma Energy’s workforce and the effect on restoration times and public safety. Representative Ricardo Chino Reyes Ocasio Ramos opened the meeting by citing Cámara Resolution 404 (approved Sept. 4, 2025), which directs a fact‑finding review of staffing changes and service impact across the Metro districts.

Luma’s presenter told the committee that "el 99.92 por 100 tienen servicio," and outlined recent work including pole and luminaria replacements, vegetation projects and automation equipment. He said Luma maintains a field force organized into brigades — described in testimony as roughly 125 brigades of two field workers (about 250 workers on that metric), plus additional third resources activated as needed — and that the company calculates reliability metrics using industry standards (SAIFI, SAIDI and CAIDI) which are reported to the energy regulator.

The Authority for Public‑Private Partnerships (APP) and its engineer Josué Colón disputed parts of Luma’s account. Colón told the committee the APP’s analysis of financial transfers and federal‑project documentation shows large transfers from the electric authority to Luma in recent fiscal years and low documented recovery of FEMA reimbursements for many projects. "Los datos...demuestran que el desempeño no va a la par con el gasto," Colón said, summarizing the APP’s review that found, in its presentation, limited documentation or low percentages of completed reimbursed work in multiple regions.

Members asked pointed questions about the October 2025 reduction of 168 positions. Luma said the cuts were concentrated in administrative areas (finance, regulatory, legal, IT and shared services) and that, according to its submission, operational field crews and night/weekend coverage were not reduced. Committee members pressed for a breakdown by district and for statistics showing how current brigade staffing compares with prior years.

Legislators and witnesses also discussed federal‑funded projects for luminarias and vegetation clearing. Witnesses said some FEMA‑listed luminaria projects were marked "deactivated" on the federal portal after a reprioritization process; Luma said some luminaria projects remain active and APP said it will supply a region‑level status. The APP provided an example for San Juan: of 684 miles obligated for vegetation clearing under federal programs, Luma documented about 74.14 miles completed — roughly 10% — and reported limited reimbursement (APP cited approximately $1,000,000 reimbursed of a larger allocation). Both sides emphasized that project activation, documentation and federal reimbursement timing affect completion percentages.

Multiple legislators and one resident, Nelly Lebrón, described persistent local outages and customer complaints that are recorded as closed despite continuing service problems. Lebrón said parts of her community have lacked reliable luminaria since Hurricane María; she also reported a recent replacement lamp that she said provides less light and raised concerns about fixture color and performance. Committee members requested case‑level data on closed querellas and asked Luma to investigate whether some complaints were closed in error.

Lawmakers also asked whether any criminal investigations or subpoenas had been issued; Luma representatives said they were not aware of any active criminal investigations and had not received a subpoena from the Department of Justice.

The committee directed Luma and APP to provide requested documentation — including brigade counts and shift statistics, overtime/guard hours, the full breakdown of the 168 position reductions, per‑municipality response times/metrics, project status lists for luminarias and vegetation with federal‑portal evidence, and a review of closed querellas — within five days so the committee can verify figures and reconcile differing accounts. The hearing was adjourned at 11:26 a.m.

The record includes contested factual claims about financial transfers, FEMA reimbursements and percentages of project completion; the committee has requested the source data needed to evaluate and reconcile those assertions before taking further action.