Crews restore power to nearly all customers after island-wide blackout hit Puerto Rico
Power has been restored to more than 98% of customers in Puerto Rico following an island-wide blackout earlier this week, according to authorities. Luma Energy, the company responsible for power transmission and distribution on the island, reported that more than 1.45 million customers had electricity restored within 48 hours of the outage.
Despite the progress, Luma warned that some customers may still experience temporary outages due to limited generation capacity. Governor Jenniffer González assured the public that all those affected by the blackout had their power restored, with the remaining 21,400 customers without electricity on Friday due to other unidentified issues.
The blackout, which occurred on Wednesday afternoon, was caused by a transmission line failure that resulted in generators across the island shutting down as a protective measure. This incident left over 400,000 customers without water at the time.
González expressed her disappointment with the current state of the power system in Puerto Rico, describing it as “insufficient” and “mediocre.” She acknowledged that there is still work to be done to improve the reliability of the electrical infrastructure.
This recent blackout is the second major outage to hit Puerto Rico in less than four months, following a similar incident on New Year’s Eve. Authorities are investigating the cause of the failure, looking into possible issues with breakers or overgrown vegetation interfering with the transmission lines.
Despite the challenges, González remains hopeful and optimistic about the future of Puerto Rico’s power system. She emphasized the importance of overcoming crises together as a community and expressed gratitude for the progress made in restoring power to the majority of customers.
As Puerto Rico continues to recover from this latest blackout, efforts are being made to prevent similar incidents in the future and ensure a more reliable and resilient electrical grid for the island.
