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Disability Community Speaks Out: Cancelled Funds Leave Electro-Dependent Disabled People Behind
Updated: October 2, 2026 by admin
By ileim moss
Disability-led and supporting organizations are sounding the alarm after the Department of Energy (DOE) announced on January 9th that it would redirect $365 million dollars away from rooftop solar and storage systems for low-income and electricity dependent Puerto Ricans and toward fortifying the centralized grid. These funds were originally for the Programa Acceso Solar (Solar Access Program), a program within the Puerto Rico Energy Resilience Fund (PR-ERF) which installs solar and energy storage systems for the households most at risk during power outages, including people who rely on electricity to power medical devices or refrigerate medication. Programa Acceso Solar has already provided solar and storage systems for over 6,000 household, and the remaining $365 million dollars was promised to providing systems to another 12,000 waiting households who are also electro-dependent and low-income. Some of those 12,000 households had already begun preparing for the solar and storage systems they’ve been promised, and have been left in the dark wondering what comes next.
Nearly 200 disability-led and support organizations, including The Partnership for Inclusive Disaster Strategies, Consejo Estatal de Vida Independiente (CEVI), and Movimiento para el Alcance de Vida Independiente (MAVI), have signed on to a letter to the Department of Energy and Puerto Rican government calling for Programa Acceso Solar to be restored, and their message is clear: “The years of planning, along with firm commitments to thousands of people with electricity-dependent disabilities and medical conditions who were already approved for life-saving solar and battery systems must be honored.”
Read more below.