Puerto Rico was greeted with an alarming start to the New Year as a massive blackout plunged the island into darkness early Tuesday morning. This black event, which left many regions without power, is currently under investigation, with preliminary analyses suggesting a fault in an underground line as the likely culprit. Luma Energy, the island's primary electricity distributor, indicated via X that restoring power might take anywhere from 24 to 48 hours.
As of 10 a.m. AST (1400 GMT), a staggering 87 percent of the island's 1.4 million customers remained without power, according to reports from the New York Times. However, as the day progressed, power was restored to several areas, including critical facilities like San Juan's municipal hospital.
This New Year's Eve blackout has intensified the conversation among elected officials and residents concerning Puerto Rico's long-standing power infrastructure problems, which have been a chronic concern since Hurricane Maria devastated the island in 2017. Jenniffer González-Colon, both a US congressional representative and the forthcoming governor, took to X to criticize the state's unstable energy system, emphasizing that it cannot continually fail its residents.
Governor Pedro Pierluisi also shared his frustrations on Facebook, demanding accountability from Luma and Genera, the two principal power companies managing the island's energy. This recent blackout is not an isolated incident; earlier this year witnessed similar outages affecting hundreds of thousands at a time, including a June incident that left 350,000 customers powerless during a heatwave.
As Puerto Ricans woke up to yet another day of blackouts, feelings of frustration ran high. One resident, Enid Núñez, 49, expressed to the Associated Press that power outages had become all too common in their daily lives.
The reliability of Puerto Rico's power grid has been a critical concern even before Hurricane Maria struck. Federal funding aimed at recovery and infrastructure improvements has yet to be fully realized, largely due to bureaucratic hurdles and slow-moving construction projects, as outlined in a report from the US Government Accountability Office.
Mark Levine, Manhattan's borough president, highlighted the ongoing neglect of Puerto Rico's power system, stating, "Inexcusably, the power grid has still not recovered from the damage inflicted by Hurricane Maria." He pointed out that Puerto Ricans in the US, approximately 3.5 million, deserve better treatment and infrastructure support.
