Puerto Rico plunged into darkness by New Year’s Eve blackout

Puerto Rico was plunged into darkness on New Year’s Eve due to power outages in almost all parts of the island.

Loma Energy, the island’s main power distributor, said more than 1.2 million of its approximately 1.5 million customers do not have electricity.

The company said that it may take between 24 to 48 hours to fully restore service.

The power outages have renewed calls to address energy problems in individual US territories, which have persisted since Hurricane Maria in 2017.

Loma said that electricity was restored Tuesday afternoon to some areas, as well as to the San Juan Municipal Hospital.

Loma spokesman Hugo Sorrentini said nearly 200,000 customers had power by late afternoon.

Sorrentini said a fault in an electrical line at one of the main power stations, Costa Sur, caused cascading problems across the island.

The White House said US President Joe Biden had been briefed on the situation, and Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm had spoken with Puerto Rico’s governor to offer assistance.

“We cannot continue to rely on an energy system that fails our people,” Jennifer Gonzalez Colón, Puerto Rico’s current representative in the U.S. Congress and Puerto Rico’s next governor, wrote on X.

“Today’s power outages and uncertainty about the restoration process continue to impact our economy and quality of life,” she said.

On Facebook, current governor Pedro Pierluisi demanded answers and solutions from the two main energy companies, Loma and Genera.

Hundreds of thousands of residents were simultaneously affected by power outages this year.

Power outages in June left about 350,000 customers without power as temperatures rose, and more than 700,000 customers were without power after Hurricane Ernesto in August.

As they woke up to another day without power, Puerto Ricans expressed their frustration.

“It’s part of my daily life,” Enid Nunez, 49, said of the power outages to The Associated Press.

Puerto Rico’s power grid was strained even before Hurricane Maria devastated the island.

U.S. government funding helped support the network, facilitate other natural disaster recovery projects, and make other important infrastructure improvements.

But implementation was not completed due to a variety of factors, such as construction start-up issues and Federal Emergency Management Agency requirements to allow the use of some funds, according to a February 2024 report. a report From the US Government Accountability Office.

“It is inexcusable that the power grid has not yet recovered from the damage caused by Hurricane Maria,” Mark Levin, New York City’s Manhattan borough president, wrote on X.

New York City is home to the largest Puerto Rican community on the mainland United States.