A blackout hit nearly all of Puerto Rico early Tuesday as the US territory prepared to celebrate New Year’s, leaving more than 1.3 million clients in the dark. Officials said it could take up to two days to restore power. The outage hit at dawn, plunging the island into an eerie silence as electrical appliances and air conditioners shut down before those who could afford generators turned them on.
Nearly 90% of 1.47 million clients across Puerto Rico were left in the dark, according to Luma Energy, a private company that oversees electricity transmission and distribution. Luma said in a statement that it appears the outage was caused by a failure of an underground power line, saying it is restoring power “in the quickest and safest way possible.” The blackout fanned simmering anger against Luma and Genera PR, which oversees the generation of power in Puerto Rico, as a growing number of people call for their ouster.
Governor-elect Jenniffer González Colón, who is set to be sworn in on January 2, has called for the creation of an “energy czar” to review potential Luma contractual breaches while another operator is found. Meanwhile, Governor Pedro Pierluisi said he was in touch with Luma and Genera PR, adding on X that “we are demanding answers and solutions.”
While blackouts are rare in Puerto Rico, the island struggles with chronic power outages blamed on a crumbling power grid that was razed by Hurricane Maria, a Category 4 storm in September 2017. The system, however, was already in decline after years of lack of maintenance and investment.
Only recently did crews start making permanent repairs to Puerto Rico’s power grid following Hurricane Maria. The island continues to depend on generators provided by the US Federal Emergency Management Agency to help stabilize the grid. In November, Puerto Rico’s government asked US officials for permission to keep using more than a dozen portable generators for two additional years.
Meanwhile, Puerto Rico’s Electric Power Authority struggles to restructure more than $9 billion in debt, the largest of the island’s government agencies.
