Puerto Rico Electric Downgrade Brings Price Upgrade: Muni Credit

Boilers run day and night for eight months of the year to transform sugar-cane molasses into liquor at Bacardi Corp.’s facility in Puerto Rico.

Heating tanks soak up the most energy in making the spirit, with 20 percent of the company’s expenses coming from electricity, said Joaquin E. Bacardi III, 48, chief executive officer of Bacardi Corp., whose parent is the world’s biggest rum maker. To supplement energy use, the company relies on methane gas and wind turbines.