‘Island-wide’ outage hits Puerto Rico on New Year’s Eve

Joggers exercise on a dark street in San Juan, Puerto Rico after a major power outage hit the island on December 31, 2024.  A major power outage plunged much of Puerto Rico into darkness Tuesday, with the US island territory’s electric utility saying restoration could take up to two days. The “island-wide blackout” began at 5:30 am (0930 GMT), Luma Energy said in a social media statement. (AFP)

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – A major power outage plunged much of Puerto Rico into darkness Tuesday, with the US island territory’s electric utility saying restoration could take up to two days.

The “island-wide blackout” began at 5:30 am (0930 GMT), Luma Energy, which manages power transmission on the island, said in a social media statement.

It added that preliminary findings pointed to a fault on an underground cable as the cause of the outage — although the situation remained under investigation.

Jose Perez, director of external affairs at LUMA Energy, told AFP that the fault “caused a cascade effect” leading to the general blackout.

“We have already begun the restoration process for some customers, and the entire process will take 24 to 48 hours,” Luma said.

The outage came as the Caribbean island entered its high season for tourists visiting from the wintry US mainland, and just hours ahead of New Year’s Eve celebrations.

Luma added in a subsequent statement that service had been restored to some critical facilities, including a medical center and hospital in the capital San Juan.

As of 1:00 pm local time, initial efforts had restored service to 44,700 customers in the metropolitan area and the island of Culebra, amounting to three percent of clients impacted by the outage, Luma said.

The company earlier noted that the incident left its roughly 1.5 million customers without service.

“The truth is that we have been dealing with this problem for a while,” said Ismael Perez, a resident of Dorado.

He added that there have been rumors an incident like Tuesday’s power outage could occur, expressing concern that residents could be left without power for more than two days.

Buildings stood in the dark early Tuesday while traffic intersections were without stop lights, with only the headlights of vehicles lighting up the streets.

In a social media post, Puerto Rico Governor Pedro Pierluisi said officials were in communication with Luma and others on the blackout.

“We are demanding answers,” he said, adding that the public should be informed of the measures being taken to restore service throughout the island.

Luma said it would provide regular updates on the restoration process on social media, and share a timeline as soon as possible.

Puerto Rico, a Spanish-speaking archipelago, came under US control in 1898 and has faced perennial infrastructure issues, exacerbated by the devastating Hurricane Maria in 2017.

The Puerto Rican power grid has suffered frequent outages since Category 4 Hurricane Maria tore through it.