Up from the ashes, a chance to build a functioning power grid for Puerto Rico

Washington, D.C. residents may be familiar with the debate over the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) in the wake of the devastation of hurricane Maria. Increasingly, it resembles the ongoing debate over Washington, D.C.’s Metrorail system. Both are fundamentally flawed, terribly mismanaged, highly consequential pieces of American infrastructure.

But while Metrorail will likely never be fully fixed — it was built without the third set of tracks necessary for a highly functioning rail system -- Puerto Rico’s power grid and delivery system could be fixed and improved. In fact, such an improvement could actually become the long-term silver lining of a heart-rending natural disaster.

Tragedy can bring opportunity, also known as a tremendous windfall of federal dollars. For the people of Puerto Rico, financial federal relief efforts could mean escape from the decades-long tyranny of their sole energy provider. The island has relied on one monster of a monopoly – PREPA – for power generation, transmission and distribution since the 1940s. This government-owned power company is something only a devout socialist could love, providing free power to all of Puerto Rico’s local and state government entities and facilities – and to a handful of for-profit businesses which we must assume are top-notch government cronies – but not to its citizens.

Decades of gross mismanagement and so-called "free power" for 78 municipalities eventually meant $9 billion in debt for PREPA. The company declared bankruptcy in July, just weeks before Maria wiped out Puerto Rico’s electricity, knocking an entire island state into the persistent, life-threatening darkness of total power outage.

Six weeks after the storm, still only about 30 percent of the island has power. The lack of diversification of power generation, transmission and distribution that was already problematic before the storm, is now deadly. And the inherent dysfunction continues.