Puerto Rico is asking the island’s energy commission to approve a new fee that’s a key part of a deal to restructure $9 billion of debt amassed by the government-run electricity company.

The rate filing late Thursday is part of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority’s plan to reduce its obligations by selling bonds backed by the new customer fee, called a securitization charge. That energy commission now has 75 days to weigh in on the proposal, which was required under an agreement between the power provider, investors and bond insurers that was reached late last year.

“This action represents an important step to allow for the issuance of securitization bonds, which is necessary for PREPA to execute on its recovery plan,” Lisa Donahue, Prepa’s chief restructuring officer, said in a statement.

The restructuring would be a first step by the commonwealth to reduce a $70 billion debt load that Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla says the government can’t afford to pay. With an economy that has shrunk since 2006, two other public agencies have already defaulted and the governor this week signed a law allowing him to temporarily suspend all debt payments. PREPA owes $1.13 billion to investors and lenders on July 1 that it won’t be able to pay if its agreement with creditors is broken off.

PREPA is proposing that residents pay a fixed charge while non-residential clients pay a per-kilowatt-hour rate, Javier Quintana Méndez, PREPA’s executive director, said in a statement. The securitization fee will be revised at least every three months to cover principal and interest payments on the new bonds.

PREPA plans to post its rate submission on its website Friday, Jose Echevarria, prepa’s spokesman in San Juan, said in a telephone interview. He said the utility and its creditors are in talks to potentially extend a separate bond-purchase agreement, which would provide the utility with needed cash.

PREPA bonds with a 5.25 percent coupon and maturing in 2040 traded Thursday at an average price of 53 cents on the dollar for an average yield of 10.8 percent, data compiled by Bloomberg show. That price is down from 61 cents at the start of the year and below the 85-cent recovery rate that investors would receive when they exchange their bonds for the new securities.

The agency said this week that the restructuring agreement remains in place and shouldn’t be affected by the law empowering the governor to declare a debt moratorium. Even so, it could violate the terms of the deal, according to Stephen Spencer, managing director at Houlihan Lokey, which is advising a group of PREPA bondholders.

The restructuring agreement was reached in December after more than a year of negotiations. By freeing up cash, it will enable the utility to modernize a system that relies on petroleum to produce electricity.

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