EXHIBIT 50 

Case:17-03283-LTS Doc#:4014-46 Filed:10/04/18 Entered:10/04/18 16:51:23 Desc:

Exhibit 50 Page 1 of 4
10/2/2018 Puerto Rico governor names new PREPA CEO, board members | Utility Dive

https://www.utilitydive.com/news/puerto-rico-governor-names-new-prepa-ceo-board-members/528152/ 1/3

By Gavin Bade

Published July 19, 2018

Dive Brief

Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló on Wednesday appointed a

new CEO of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA),

lling a vacancy that opened last week when the company's

current leader and his initial replacement said they would step

down over salary issues.

Rosselló appointed José Ortiz, a former PREPA board

chairman and CEO of the island's state-owned water utility, as

the new CEO. The move follows the appointment of two new

board members, Eli Díaz Atienza and Ralph A. Kreil, on July 12.

The appointment of Ortiz raised concern among observers in

Puerto Rico and Washington over political inuence at PREPA

and Ortiz's past experience as the company's board chair.

PREPA still has customers without power after Hurricane Maria

destroyed its grid last year and the company is bankrupt, with

$9 billion in debt.

Dive Insight

Facing a leadership vacuum at PREPA, Rosselló this week turned

to a familiar gure in Puerto Rico's utility sector and his New

Progressive party to lead the island's struggling power company.

Ortiz served as chairman of PREPA's board from 2011 to 2013 and

as CEO of the Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority from

BRIEF

Puerto Rico governor names

new PREPA CEO, board

members

Case:17-03283-LTS Doc#:4014-46 Filed:10/04/18 Entered:10/04/18 16:51:23 Desc:

Exhibit 50 Page 2 of 4
10/2/2018 Puerto Rico governor names new PREPA CEO, board members | Utility Dive

https://www.utilitydive.com/news/puerto-rico-governor-names-new-prepa-ceo-board-members/528152/ 2/3

2007 to 2013. He also chaired the island's Infrastructure

Financing Authority from 2009-2012, as well as the inter-agency

board for Puerto Rico that managed funds from President Barack

Obama's stimulus package.

The Rosselló administration touted that experience, calling

Ortiz's credentials "unassailable" in a release, but critics worry

the new CEO was part of the poor management culture that

drove PREPA, and the entire Puerto Rican territory, into

bankruptcy in recent years.

"If you want to transform PREPA — because we realize it was

mismanaged for so long — why do we bring in someone who

was part of that mismanagement?" said Jorge Camacho, a

consultant with PREPA and former regulatory staer in

Washington, D.C.

Concerns with Ortiz's management style reach Washington,

reports Caribbean Business, where Congress will watch the

utility for signs of political inuence over the troubled utility. The

recent vacancies have allowed Rosselló to name Ortiz and all of

PREPA's board, and Camacho said the new CEO is likely to sta

his oce with his own team, relying less on outside consultants.

Many of the concerns with Ortiz's leadership stem from more

than a dozen renewable energy contracts signed at high prices

— reportedly between $0.15/kWh and $0.18/kWh — when he was

chair of the PREPA board.

Those contracts were later put on hold during the administration

of Gov. Alejandro García Padilla, a member of the opposition

Popular Democratic party, but Caribbean Business reports the

newly seated board approved seven of them this week.

The new appointees at PREPA follow a spate of resignations.

Last week, current CEO Walter Higgins announced he would

step down over issues securing his contracted salary. The board

then named Rafael Diaz-Granados to the role, but he and seven

Case:17-03283-LTS Doc#:4014-46 Filed:10/04/18 Entered:10/04/18 16:51:23 Desc:

Exhibit 50 Page 3 of 4
10/2/2018 Puerto Rico governor names new PREPA CEO, board members | Utility Dive

https://www.utilitydive.com/news/puerto-rico-governor-names-new-prepa-ceo-board-members/528152/ 3/3

board members stepped down after Rosselló pressured them to

reduce the new leader's salary.

Ortiz will reportedly make $250,000, far less than the $750,000

initially promised to Diaz-Granados.

Ortiz will assume his role at PREPA on July 23. The company is

currently devising a new integrated resource plan that will guide

the rebuild of its fragile grid.

Case:17-03283-LTS Doc#:4014-46 Filed:10/04/18 Entered:10/04/18 16:51:23 Desc:

Exhibit 50 Page 4 of 4