The Montana-based company that won, and then lost, a $300 million contract to restore power in Puerto Rico says its on-the-ground workers are starting to pack up and go home. The departures follow pre-set dates outlined in subcontracts.
Puerto Rico’s governor asked the island’s power utility to cancel Whitefish Energy Holdings’s contract at the end of October amid scrutiny over how it was awarded. After it was cancelled, the company said it would end its work on the hurricane-ravaged island on November 30. But some of Whitefish’s subcontracts with Florida-based utility companies expire this week.
Gerri Boyce is a spokesperson for Jacksonville Electric Authority, which is bringing 45 workers home.
"When JEA went over, we were some of the first electric workers to come over, so we've done our job, and now the electric contractors that are there will continue to work."
There are currently 3,000 people working to restore power on the island from multiple utilities working under mutual aid.
Whitefish Energy declined to be interviewed for this story.
As of Monday more than half of Puerto Rico remains without power.
