Screenshot of a CNN interview with CEO of Whitefish Energy, Andy Techmanski, 20 November 2017. Photo: CNN

By Leyla Santiago, Khushbu Shah, and Rachel Clarke
20 November 2017
San Juan, Puerto Rico (CNN) – Whitefish Energy is stopping its work to restore Puerto Rico’s broken electricity grid because the company says it is owed more than $83 million by the island’s power authority.
Whitefish CEO Andy Techmanski told CNN that repeated requests for agreed payments were not met and there was no choice but to suspend work.
He claimed credit for the restoration of transmission lines by his contractors, even after his company’s controversial contract with the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) was set to be voided.
“We stopped because of the financial situation, lack of payment with PREPA has gotten beyond its maximum threshold and what we can sustain as a business,” he said.A letter sent by Whitefish to PREPA and seen by CNN accuses PREPA of delaying payments. As of Sunday, Whitefish said $83,036,305.09 was outstanding, including more than $26 million that it said had been audited and approved by PREPA already. Without payment to Whitefish, contractors and subcontractors were also going unpaid, the letter said.According to the company, its work in Puerto Rico has involved more than 500 contractors and subcontractors.”It may have not been the best business decision coming to work for a bankrupt island,” Techmanski told CNN. “We were assured PREPA was getting support from FEMA and there was money available to pay us for 100% of our work.” [more]

Whitefish is halting Puerto Rico power repairs, claiming it’s owed $83 million