BACK-AND-FORTH

Whitefish Energy Resumes Work in Puerto Rico After Payment Debacle

The company had halted work earlier this week, citing unpaid debts.

Whitefish Energy on Thursday said it had resumed work on restoring Puerto Rico’s storm-battered power grid after receiving a payment from the island’s bankrupt utility. The Montana-based company, which is facing an investigation for its no bid $300 million contract with the Puerto Rico Electric Power Company, had announced earlier this week that it was halting work early with less than 50 percent of electricity restored. The company changed its tune after it said “PREPA released a payment to Whitefish Energy that was enough to show PREPA’s good faith intent to pay Whitefish Energy and its subcontractors for services rendered,” according to a statement released Thursday. Whitefish had earlier cited a debt of $83 million but did not provide specifics Thursday on the size of the payment received from PREPA. The company saw its contract with the utility canceled last month amid scrutiny over how it was won. Under the terms of the canceled contract, Whitefish is due to complete work by Nov. 30.