CUC to send 4 linemen, 1 admin staff to Puerto Rico

The Commonwealth Utilities Corp. is set to send five employees composed of four linemen and one administrative staff to Puerto Rico to help with the island’s restoration efforts after being hit by Hurricane Maria in September of last year.

Speaking in front of the board yesterday, CUC executive director Gary Camacho said that CUC was asked by the American Public Power Association to join other public power utilities in this endeavor.

“APPA requested assistance for post Hurricane Maria restoration efforts in Puerto Rico. The assistance is an international effort of all the 2,200 member utilities where CUC has been a member for the last 20 years,” he said

“CUC will employ four linemen and one administrative staff which is the average support provided by most APPA utility members. This crew will be departing for Puerto Rico in the next two weeks. Even with the involvement of this crew over there, CUC will be able to function properly to provide continued service to our consumers,” he added

According to Camacho, the duration requested for the assistance is 60 days minimum and the restoration area that CUC will be involved in is Carolina, Puerto Rico.

“The memorandum of understanding was signed between the CUC and Puerto Rico Electrical Authority… CUC will provide upfront funding of $511,000 and this amount is reimbursable. Our invoices will be submitted to the PREPA and they will submit these invoices to Federal Emergency Management Agency for reimbursement,” he said

“ As for equipment, we currently have a 60-foot bucket truck and a 4×4 pick up truck that are waiting in Chaeleston, Lousiana to be shipped out with other equipment to Puerto Rico,” he added.

In a teleconference, Sam Rosenburg, APPA Engineering Services Security manager from Washington, D.C., said they are tremendously impressed that CUC has line workers willing to travel so far to support their brethren in Puerto Rico.

“I think it’s important to recognize that CUC will stand right there with PREPA and other utilities in supporting the people of Puerto Rico and have the power restored… a lot of credit goes to Gary and his team as there were a lot of scrambling with logistics over the past weeks and for CUC to go so far to help the people of Puerto Rico should be recognized,” he said.

“After all line workers are on island (Puerto Rico) there will be roughly a total of 5,000 between contractors working for the Corps of Engineers and all the line workers from public power investor and investor utilities supporting the PREPA,” he added.

Rosenburg said that the number of manpower going to Puerto Rico will be of great help especially in locations where power is badly needed.

“Currently, 55 percent of power has been restored and we still have 45 percent to go. We will do a lot of distribution work on the ground and making that final connection to the consumer,” he said.

“A lot of the 55 percent is industrial and the 45 percent will be a lot of the residential customers and rural areas outside of San Juan. San Juan, being a big city has had a lot of the focus and resources put into it, while a lot of the outlining areas such as the Carolina region which CUC will be supporting still have some ways to go,” he added

Camacho said that CUC is honored to be able to assist anybody in need as CNMI has received the same assistance and help after Typhoon Soudelor.

“There was an open request of 50,000 power poles across the board from all utilities and that will give the public an idea of the extent of work that’s required in Puerto Rico and CUC is very much involved in this,” he said.

“This is one of CUC’s efforts in expanding and assisting internationally. We are proud members of APPA and we intend to maintain and grow our relationship with them,” he added.