Utilities that helped Puerto Rico fix power grid now face hefty tax bills
When nearly the entire power grid of Puerto Rico was knocked out by two ferocious hurricanes this past year, utility companies from across the mainland United States sent crews and equipment to help.
It was a power emergency on a scale rarely seen before, and companies spent tens of millions of dollars to mobilize. The utility in Sacramento, California, sent 30 workers and a dozen trucks. Ameren, which serves more than 2 million customers in Missouri and Illinois, sent 225 workers. New York sent workers on at least five deployments to repair power lines and assess damaged substations. Florida Power & Light sent more than 100 trucks, several tons of equipment and 800 employees, many of whom spent Thanksgiving and the winter holidays working 16-hour days.
Though their costs are expected to be reimbursed by the federal government, the companies were not earning a profit. So it was with astonishment that, during the summer, some of the utility companies that had sent aid crews opened letters from the towns where they had worked in Puerto Rico: bills demanding millions of dollars in license and construction taxes.
Florida Power & Light was given five days to pay the first $2 million and 30 days for $333,000 more in taxes, fees, penalties and interest. Ameren and the Sacramento Municipal Utility District received bills for nearly $3 million.
Read more: https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/utilities-that-helped-puerto-rico-fix-power-grid-now-face-hefty-tax-bills/
= new reply since forum marked as read
