Puerto Rico faced a challenging New Year as a sudden blackout plunged nearly the entire island into darkness. Luma Energy, the primary power distributor, reported that over 1.2 million of its nearly 1.5 million customers were left without electricity. The cause of this widespread outage is still under investigation, and Luma indicated that restoring power could take between 24 to 48 hours.
This latest power failure comes as renewed calls for significant changes to Puerto Rico’s energy infrastructure emerge, echoing the ongoing struggles since Hurricane Maria hit in 2017. By Tuesday afternoon, some areas, including San Juan's municipal hospital, saw power restoration, but frustration lingered among residents.
Jenniffer González-Colon, the U.S. congressional representative for Puerto Rico and the incoming governor, criticized the persistent failures of the energy system on social media, emphasizing that it simply cannot continue to let down the island's residents. Current governor Pedro Pierluisi also voiced his concerns over the need for answers and solutions from Luma Energy and Genera, both central to the island's power supply.
Throughout the year, power outages have significantly disrupted daily life for countless Puerto Ricans. Previous incidents included a June outage impacting approximately 350,000 customers during a heatwave, and another in August affecting over 700,000 homes following Hurricane Ernesto.
Many residents expressed their frustration, with individuals like Enid Núñez sharing how power failures have become a part of their daily lives. Even before Hurricane Maria, Puerto Rico's energy grid was under strain. U.S. federal funding was allocated to help rebuild the infrastructure, but execution has been slow and riddled with complications, according to a recent report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office.
Mark Levine, Manhattan borough president, highlighted the ongoing struggles, emphasizing that Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens who deserve much better. He noted that the power grid still bears the scars of Hurricane Maria's damage, stressing the urgency for substantial progress in restoring reliable energy for the island’s population.
