Puerto Rico is in dark amid major blackout on New Year's Eve. Could take days to fix
Published in News & Features
Nearly all of Puerto Rico lost power on Tuesday, New Year’s Eve, leaving over 1 million Luma Energy customers without electricity as residents prepare for the holiday.
The company’s tracking page showed 1.2 million Luma customers were without power, or about 82% of its 1.4 million customers, according to its tracking page as of 12:45 p.m. Luma is the main power supplier to the U.S. territory.
In its 1 p.m. update, the energy company stated service had been restored to 44,700 customers across the metro area and Culebra, or 3% of customers impacted by the blackout. By 4:40 p.m. that number jumped to 194,429 customers but is still only around 13% of customers with power, according to the company.
“Facilities have been energized, including hospitals, Water and Sewer Authority facilities, and critical loads. We will keep our customers informed as service is restored to these areas,” Luma said in their most recent statement on Tuesday.
The outage, which began around 5:30 a.m., was traced to a critical fault on an underground transmission line, according to a statement the energy company made on the social media platform X. The company added that the faulty underground transmission line is only a preliminary finding and that the exact cause of the blackout is still under investigation.
Luma Energy activated its Emergency Operations Center and began working with Genera PR and other partners to restart the electrical system. Crews are restoring power in phases, with critical facilities like San Juan’s Medical Center, the Municipal Hospital, and the island of Culebra already back online by late morning.
Gov. Pedro Pierluisi stated on X that teams are actively working to restart power generation at the San Juan and Palo Seco plants and called for faster action and clearer communication from Luma and Genera.
“We are demanding answers and solutions from both Luma and Genera, who must expedite the restart of the generating units outside the fault area and keep the people duly informed about the measures they are taking to restore service throughout the Island,” Pierluisi said in a statement in Spanish.
The energy company said it is working closely with Gov. Pierluisi, Governor-elect Jenniffer González and local mayors to provide updated information on restoration efforts.
Luma reports that the full restoration process could take 24-48 hours and is providing updates every two hours on social media.
The island has been plagued with power outages since the 2017 Hurricane Maria struck the island and damaged its power grid.
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