Following a sweeping blackout that plunged Puerto Rico into darkness on New Year's Eve, power has been restored to nearly all electrical customers across the U.S. territory. By Wednesday afternoon, 98% of Puerto Rico's 1.47 million utility customers had their power back, according to Luma Energy, the private company overseeing transmission and distribution of power in the archipelago.
The outage, which exposed the persistent electricity problems plaguing the island, affected households, hospitals, water plants, and sewage facilities. While most customers have had their power restored, Luma Energy cautioned that temporary outages may still occur in the coming days, with full restoration expected to take up to two days.
The blackout began at 5:30 a.m. on Tuesday, with authorities still investigating the cause. Luma Energy indicated that a preliminary review suggested a failure in an underground electric line in the southern part of the territory.
Despite the progress in restoring power, Governor-elect Jenniffer González Colón, set to take office on Thursday, warned of potential interruptions as power plants are not yet operating at maximum capacity. She urged residents to moderate their energy consumption to help reduce load shifting and ensure a smoother restart of the system.
Puerto Rico's power grid has long been fragile and faulty, exacerbated by the devastation caused by Hurricane Maria in 2017. Unreliable electricity has been a persistent issue, with previous incidents leaving hundreds of thousands without power during extreme weather events.
As customers grapple with the aftermath of the recent blackout, they are also facing an impending increase in electricity rates. The Energy Bureau approved a rate hike of 2.2 cents per kilowatt hour for residential customers from January through March, leading to a significant jump in electric bills for the average household.
