Puerto Rico left without power in New Year’s Eve blackout
Puerto Rico has been left without power on New Year’s Eve following a blackout that has affected almost the entire island. Around 90% of the 1.5 million customers of Luma Energy, it’s main power distributor, have been left with no electricity. By late Tuesday night, over 700,000 of its customers, including a water and sewer company, and 16 hospitals, had their power back, Luma said.
The blackout has renewed calls to address the issue over the power of the unincorporated US territory. These have been ongoing since Hurricane Maria hit the island in 2017.
A failure at one of the main power plants, Costa Sur, led to an issue that wound up affecting the entire island, Hugo Sorrentini, a spokesman for Luma said. US president Joe Biden has bene briefed on the situation and Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm spoke with the governor of Puerto Rico to offer assistance, according to the White House.
“We can’t keep relying on an energy system that fails our people,” Jenniffer González-Colon, Puerto Rico’s current US congressional representative and incoming governor of the island, wrote on X. “Today’s blackout and the uncertainty around restoration continue to impact our economy and quality of life,” she said.
Governor Pedro Pierluisi demanded answers and solutions from both Luma and Genera, another power company, in a post on Facebook as hundreds of thousands of residents have bene affected by power outages.
In June 2024, a power outage resulted in 350,000 people without electricity as temperatures climbed, and 700,000 customers lost power after Hurricane Ernesto in August.
Residents of Puerto Rico expressed their frustration. “They’re part of my everyday life,” Enid Núñez, 49, told the Associated Press.
Even before Hurricane Maria devastated the island, its grid had been strained. US government funding helped with recovery projects from other natural disasters as well as other improvements to infrastructure. But its implementation had been incomplete for various reasons including the Federal Emergency Management Agency needing to authorise some of the funds from the US Government Accountability Office.
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