How to file your solar system with LUMA in Puerto Rico
On this page
Expedited Registration · Act 17-2019 · checked in July 2026
The paperwork is what stops most systems, not the roof. This is
the whole route in order: which path yours takes by size, the seven steps of the
Expedited Registration, everything that has to go attached the first time, and what
to do when LUMA does not answer.
Which path yours takes, by size
The size that counts is the inverter output in kW AC, not the
panels on the roof. A 12 kW array behind a 7.6 kW inverter files as 7.6 kW.
Size
Path
What it means
Up to 25 kW AC
Registro Expedito (GDL17) Ley 17-2019
Online registration, no impact study. LUMA has 30 days to notify you.
Over 25 and up to 300 kW AC
Interconnection evaluation Reglamento 8915
Requires a technical evaluation by LUMA. The timelines run longer.
Over 300 kW AC
Interconnection study Reglamento 8915
Large system: a full study, with its own costs and timelines.
It is on the bill. Without it you cannot even open the application, and it has to be the account for the site where the panels go — not another property owned by the same person.
2
Confirm the inverter is approved
Since January 1, 2025 every application requires UL 1741 SB (Supplement B) certification. An inverter without it gets rejected even if everything else is right. Check it against LUMA’s list BEFORE you buy it, not after.
3
Register the account on the PREPAEE portal
The application is filed online. The account is opened by the installer or the licensed electrical engineer, not by the homeowner.
4
Get the certified diagram
From a licensed electrical engineer with a CIAPR seal. Watch this one: the Agreement states that the system capacity is whatever appears on that diagram, and that the diagram becomes part of the Agreement. LUMA inspects in the field against it. It is not paperwork — it is the technical contract.
5
File with every attachment at once
Missing one restarts the clock. The full list is below, marked by where each item comes from.
6
LUMA has 30 days
Under Expedited Registration (Act 17-2019) LUMA has 30 days to notify you. If they pass and nobody answers, that is something you claim — you do not wait quietly. Keep the dated receipt.
7
Inspection and meter swap
Once approved, LUMA inspects and swaps the meter for a bidirectional one. Until that meter is in, whatever you export is NOT credited to you — even if the system is already producing.
What has to go attached
File with all of it at once. A missing attachment does not pause the clock — it
restarts it.
This part comes with the Professional plan
Nobody has this written out in one place: it is spread across the Applicant Manual, Regulation 8915, Act 17-2019 and scattered LUMA bulletins.
Write to nem@lumapr.com quoting the filing date and the application number, and ask for the status in writing. The email is your evidence.
They rejected it without saying why
Ask for the denial in writing with the technical reason. Without a written reason there is nothing to correct and nothing to appeal.
LUMA is not resolving it
The formal complaint goes to the Puerto Rico Energy Bureau, which regulates LUMA. LUMA does not get to decide whether LUMA complied.
They swapped the meter and you are not being credited
Compare the export reading on the bill against what your inverter logs. If they do not match, file with both figures — one number against another gets attention; a complaint with no numbers does not.
With the two-way meter the bill changes shape. A «Net metering» block appears with what
you exported, what was credited and the carry-over — the bank of kWh that rolls from month to
month, the last column of that block — and the credit line hands back every per-kWh charge on
what you swapped, so
while the bank holds you pay the customer charge and nothing else. The bank is cashed out
every June at 7.5 ¢ per kWh, right before summer. How to read it, with six months of a real
bill: a real bill, month by month.
Your rights as a LUMA customer
With panels or without them: if a wrong bill shows up, this is what Act 57-2014 and Regulation 8863
give you. Almost nobody knows it, and the ones who do win the dispute.
30 days to dispute
From the day you get the bill. It usually lands on the due date. You can dispute any charge, classification or calculation — not the approved rate.
Demand the "OB" number
If the case number does not start with OB, your complaint got logged as an inquiry, not an objection — and that does not freeze the charge or stop a shutoff.
You pay the average, not the bill
The requirement is to pay the average of your NON-disputed bills from the last 6 months and turn in the receipt. Without that, the objection does not legally exist.
The deadlines run in YOUR favor
LUMA has 30 days to start the investigation and 60 to resolve it. If it misses either one, the objection is decided in your favor automatically.
They cannot cut you off
With an active objection they cannot shut you off over the disputed amount. And they can never cut on a Friday, Saturday, Sunday, holiday, or the day before a holiday.
Late billing has limits
LUMA has 180 days at most to bill for a service and 120 to notify you of calculation errors. After that, it cannot bill you retroactively (residential).
Free legal help and where to dispute: OIPC (Independent Consumer Protection Office): 787-523-6962 · Servicios Legales de Puerto Rico: 787-728-5070 · Objections with LUMA: the Mi LUMA portal (it generates a confirmation) or by phone: 1-844-888-5862.
Educational information under Act 57-2014 and Regulation 8863, checked in
July 2026. Not legal advice — check the terms in effect before you act.
Public information put in order, not legal advice. Sources:
Expedited Registration Applicant Manual, Regulation 8915, Act 17-2019 and the
Interconnection Agreement for 25 kW or less. Checked in July 2026 — the process
changes, confirm on the portal before you file.
