Power has been restored to nearly all electrical customers across Puerto Rico, with 98% of customers back online as of Wednesday afternoon. The outage, which began on Tuesday at 5:30 a.m., affected the entire archipelago and plunged people into darkness for the New Year. However, some temporary outages are still expected in the coming days.
Luma Energy, the private company overseeing transmission and distribution of power, warned that full restoration could take up to two days due to the fragile nature of the grid. The cause of the outage is still under investigation, but a preliminary review suggests a failure in an underground electric line in the south of the territory.
Governor-elect Jenniffer González Colón urged residents to be moderate with their energy consumption to help reduce load shifting and prevent major setbacks. She had promised to appoint an “energy czar” during her campaign to oversee the operation of the power grid, which has been plagued by issues since Hurricane Maria in 2017.
The island’s power grid was severely damaged by the hurricane and has experienced numerous outages since then. In June, over 340,000 customers were left without electricity due to soaring temperatures. The New Year’s Eve outage is the latest challenge for Puerto Ricans, who are bracing for a hike in electricity rates that will take effect from January through March.
As of now, power has been restored to households and critical infrastructure such as hospitals, water plants, and sewage facilities. However, some customers may still experience temporary outages in the coming days.
Source: https://apnews.com/article/puerto-rico-power-outage-3c991c7d1e69e0d409a8932b224b7151