Puerto Rico Faces Widespread Blackout Before New Year’s Celebration

The Puerto Rican city of San Juan As the U.S. island was ready to celebrate New Year's Eve, a major blackout threw almost all of Puerto Rico into darkness early Tuesday. Luma Energy, the private firm in charge of electricity transmission and distribution on the island, reported that more over 1.2 million of its 1.47 million customers were without power. Luma said in an early-Tuesday statement that it might take 24 to 48 hours to restore power, "conditions permitting." Although it did not say how many customers were still impacted, the business stated a few hours later that power had been restored in some locations.

Additionally, the corporation pledged to provide continuous updates on progress every couple of hours and confirmed that the San Juan Municipal Hospital and a medical center were back online. According to Luma, preliminary investigations show that an underground power line breakdown was the cause of the outage. The issue also led to shutdowns at Genera plants and other private generators, according to Iván Báez, a spokesman for Genera, Puerto Rico's primary electricity provider.

On social media, Governor Pedro Pierluisi said that his office was communicating with Genera and Luma to resolve the widespread outage brought on by "a critical fault." He called for explanations and solutions from both businesses and underlined the continuous efforts to restore power. Josué Colón, the president of Puerto Rico's energy administration, warned Telemundo that it could take a few days to fully restore power. Due to a deteriorating electrical grid that was badly damaged by Hurricane Maria, a Category 4 storm that hit the island in September 2017, Puerto Rico has long struggled with regular blackouts.

Even before the hurricane, the system was already at risk due to years of poor investment and upkeep. The scenario has angered former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who described it as "indefensible." Puerto Ricans have been treated as "second-class citizens for far too long," Cuomo said in a social media post, and he called on the federal government to assume accountability by allocating the funds required to permanently repair the island's electrical infrastructure.

Over 1.3 million homes and businesses in Puerto Rico were left without electricity on New Year's Eve due to a huge blackout. Power restoration might take up to two days, officials said. Early in the morning, the blackout silenced air conditioners and appliances all around the island. Eventually, those who had generators switched them on. "It had to happen on December 31st!" complained Manuel, a resident who was enjoying his birthday.
Puerto Rico has experienced blackouts before. After years of neglect and the deadly 2017 hurricane Maria, the island's electrical grid has been in poor shape. Although permanent repairs have recently begun, the system continues to rely on U.S. government-provided generators. Enid Núñez is one Puerto Rican who has adjusted to the regular blackouts. Using a tiny gas burner, Enid made breakfast, referring to the blackouts as "a part of everyday life." Repairing the island's electrical system is made more difficult by the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority's over $9 billion debt.
The private business in charge of distributing electricity, Luma Energy, reported that the blackout affected about 90% of the island. The business stated that they were working to safely and promptly restore electricity and attributed the interruption to a malfunction in an underground power line. The public's resentment toward Luma Energy and Genera PR, the corporation in charge of power generating management, was rekindled by this episode. A lot of people are now calling for leadership changes. On January 2, Jenniffer González Colón, the incoming governor, has suggested designating a "energy czar" to look into Luma's performance and identify alternatives.