P.R. Laws tit. 22, § 158
The Board shall fix and from time to time shall revise the rates and charges to be collected for the commodities, services and facilities furnished by the Authority. Said rates and charges shall be just and reasonable. Said rates and charges shall be fixed and revised so as to provide funds at all times sufficient:
(a) To pay the cost of maintaining, repairing and operating the Commonwealth Water System and the Commonwealth Sewer System, including reserves for such purposes, and for replacement and depreciation;
(b) to pay the principal of and the interest on revenue bonds issued under the provisions of §§ 141—161 of this title as the same shall become due, and reserves therefor, and
(c) to provide a margin of safety for making such payments.
The rates for water and sewerage service respectively shall be sufficient to cover the expenses necessary or properly attributable to the furnishing of the class of services for which said charges are made; Provided, however, That the Board may fix rates and charges for the services and facilities of the Commonwealth Water System sufficient to pay all or any of the cost of operating and maintaining the Commonwealth Sewer System and all or any of the principal of and the interest upon revenue bonds issued on account of such system, and to pledge for such purposes any surplus revenues of the Commonwealth Water System, subject to prior pledges thereof.
No change shall be made in said rates and charges, except for a temporary period or in cases of emergency, unless upon public hearing after publication of reasonable advanced notice of the time and place of said public hearing and of the charges and rates or changes in rates which will be considered for adoption.
The Authority shall render no free services. The charges for services rendered to the Government of Puerto Rico and to its municipalities (including the Government of the Capital) shall be deemed to be ordinary expenses of the Government of Puerto Rico and shall be paid from appropriations which shall be made for such purposes. In the event that no appropriation shall have been made in any fiscal year, then the funds to pay the cost of the services rendered shall be in the nature of a continuous appropriation. Such payments shall be made in accordance with the statutory provisions regulating the disbursement of public funds. As a safeguard for the holders of the bonds of the Authority, the good faith of the Government of Puerto Rico is hereby irrevocably pledged for the payment to the Authority of any obligation incurred or assumed by the Government of Puerto Rico for services rendered by the said Authority.
History —May 1, 1945, No. 40, p. 138, § 19, renumbered as § 18 and amended on May 3, 1949, No. 163, § 1.