SAN JUAN: Puerto Rico’s electric utility says it has been given a brief reprieve to pursue an agreement with bond insurers on a debt restructuring deal that it reached last month with its bondholders and bank lenders. The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority said creditors agreed to extend Friday’s deadline for a final deal until Tuesday. The proposed debt deal would ease payment terms for the utility. Gov Alejandro Garcia Padilla and other officials have said the authority’s 18 months of negotiations with creditors show why Congress should grant the US territory’s public agencies access to Chapter 9 federal bankruptcy reorganisation. The utility is the first of about a dozen entities that officials say need to restructure their debts. The governor warned of a ‘humanitarian crisis’ late Friday after Congress declined to extend Chapter 9 to Puerto Rico despite weeks of lobbying. Garcia Padilla announced in June that Puerto Rico’s $72 billion public debt is not payable.