WEST SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico— Almost the whole island of Puerto Rico lost power early Tuesday morning as the U.S. territory got ready for New Year’s. More than 1.3 million customers were left without power. The power might not be back on for up to two days, according to the government.
Before people who could afford generators could turn them on, the power went out at dawn, leaving the island in eerie silence as appliances and air conditioners turned off.
A man who only gave his name as Manuel yelled, “It had to be on the 31st of December!” as he sulked outside of a grocery store in San Juan, the capital, about the power loss that happened on his birthday. “There is no joy.”
The private company Luma Energy, which is in charge of power transfer and distribution in Puerto Rico, says that nearly 90% of its 1.47 million customers were left in the dark.
The power was back on for more than 336,000 people by Tuesday night, according to Luma. This included 16 hospitals and Puerto Rico’s water and sewer company. But the company’s website that showed who still didn’t have power was down.
Luma said in a statement, “We understand how very frustrating this outage has been, especially on a day like today.” “We’re sorry that we had to mess up your plans.”
Luma said that it was likely an underground power line that broke that caused the power loss. It said that power is being brought back “in the safest and fastest way possible.” A spokeswoman for Luma named Hugo Sorrentini told the Associated Press that the event was being looked into.
Discover Puerto Rico, a non-profit that promotes the island, told visitors about the power outage on its website and asked cruise ship passengers to call tour companies directly to see if they had generators and were open for the day.
On Tuesday, five cruise ships were set to dock in Puerto Rico. Most hotels had generators going, but short-term rentals that didn’t have them said they had to cancel reservations. San Juan’s largest international airport stayed open.
The blackout made people even more angry at Luma and Genera PR, which is in charge of making new power in Puerto Rico. More and more people are calling for them to be fired.
It has been asked that a “energy czar” be appointed to look into possible breaches of contract by Luma until a new provider is found. Governor-elect Jenniffer González Colón will be sworn in on January 2.
“We can’t keep relying on an energy system that fails our people,” she wrote on the social media site X. She also said that her top goal as governor would be to make Puerto Rico’s energy grid more stable.
At the same time, Gov. Pedro Pierluisi said he was in touch with Genera PR and Luma. He also said on X that “we are demanding answers and solutions.”
President Joe Biden talked to Pierluisi about the outage on Tuesday night and offered help from the federal government. Also, Biden talked to U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm and told her to help in any way possible to get power back on the island as soon as possible.
Because of the outage, many stores, parks, and malls had to close. The government also told some of its offices they would have limited hours. Workers checked on hundreds of patients who were stuck in bed and gave diabetics ice to keep their insulin cool.
Some Puerto Ricans started making plans for the future.
“I’m going to my balcony.” “That’s where I’ll sleep,” 63-year-old diabetic Raúl Pacheco said with a shrug as he sat on a chair to take care of his hurt foot.
Julio Córdova, who works for the city, said he got dressed with the flashlight on his phone and was going to buy candles.
“This makes me sad because I had plans.” Today or tomorrow couldn’t have been the day?” He said this while raking leaves and shaking his head.
Puerto Rico rarely loses power across the whole island, but the U.S. state has long-term power outages that are caused by a power grid that was destroyed by Hurricane Maria, a Category 4 storm in September 2017.
But the system was already getting worse after years of not being maintained or invested in.
Power grid fixes in Puerto Rico that will last after Hurricane Maria just started a few days ago. The island still relies on generators that were sent there by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to help keep the power grid stable.
The government of Puerto Rico asked U.S. officials in November if they could keep using more than a dozen portable generators for another two years.
Some people in Puerto Rico didn’t mind the current power outage.
Enid Núñez, 49, said, “They’re part of my everyday life.” She used a small gas stove she got for these kinds of events to cook breakfast before going to work.
At the same time, Puerto Rico’s Electric Power Authority, which has more than $9 billion in debt and is the island’s biggest government agency, is having a hard time reorganizing its debt.
More than 60% of Puerto Rico’s energy comes from oil-based power plants. Natural gas and coal come in second and third, respectively. Only about 7% of the power used on an island where over 40% of the people are poor comes from solar panels on roofs.
