Puerto Rico: Nearly 90 percent of Puerto Rico’s 1.5 million electricity customers were left in darkness on New Year’s Eve following a nearly island-wide blackout, according to Luma Energy, the territory’s primary power distributor.
Over 700,000 customers, including essential services such as Puerto Rico’s water and sewer company and 16 hospitals, had their power restored. However, frustration scaled as the outage reignited debates over the island’s chronic power issues that have persisted since Hurricane Maria in 2017.
Luma spokesperson Hugo Sorrentini stated that, “A cascading failure arising from an electric line at the Costa Sur power plant was recognised as the cause of the blackout.” By afternoon, power was restored to some areas, including San Juan’s municipal hospital, with nearly 200,000 customers back online by the evening.
US President Joe Biden reported on the situation, and Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm reached out to Puerto Rico’s governor to offer federal support. Jenniffer González-Colon, Puerto Rico’s US congressional representative and incoming governor, called for urgent reforms.
González-Colon wrote on X, stating that, “We can’t keep relying on an energy system that fails our people,” warning of the economic and social toll of frequent outages. Governor Pedro Pierluisi demanded accountability from Luma and Genera, Puerto Rico’s other main power provider.
Puerto Rico’s power grid has struggled for years. Hurricanes, including Maria in 2017 and Ernesto in August 2024, have left hundreds of thousands without electricity. A June 2024 outage impacted 350,000 residents during a heatwave.
Despite billions in federal funding earmarked for infrastructure recovery and grid modernisation, the island’s progress has been slow. A February 2024 report from the US Government Accountability Office cited delays in project starts and stringent federal provisions as significant obstacles.
Mark Levine, Manhattan borough president, echoed Puerto Rican frustration. New York City is home to the largest Puerto Rican community on the US mainland, many of whom hold close ties to the island.
For Puerto Ricans, power outages have become a grim routine. As the island works to recover from the latest crisis, pressure is scaling for long-term solutions to stabilise its fragile power grid and prevent further disturbances to daily life and critical infrastructure.
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