Puerto Rico Blackout Hits Millions During Easter Week \ Newslooks \ Washington DC \ Mary Sidiqi \ Evening Edition \ A massive blackout struck Puerto Rico this week, leaving 1.4 million customers without power and over 400,000 without water. As crews race to restore service, residents and officials express outrage over repeated failures and fragile infrastructure. Pressure mounts to cancel energy contracts with Luma and Genera PR amid growing frustration.
Quick Looks
- Power outage began Wednesday, affecting the entire island of Puerto Rico.
- 1.4 million customers lost power; over 400,000 also lost water service.
- By Thursday afternoon, 58% had electricity and 89% had water restored.
- Officials estimate 90% of customers will have power within 72 hours.
- Governor Jenniffer González cut vacation short to oversee response.
- Outage disrupted hospitals, airport operations, businesses, and Easter travel.
- Puerto Ricans criticize Luma Energy and Genera PR over repeated failures.
- Governor says canceling contracts is on the table, but not immediate.
- Preliminary estimates suggest a $215 million economic hit per day.
- Officials investigating potential transmission failure, vegetation issues, or system vulnerability.
Deep Look
Puerto Rico is once again facing public outrage and widespread disruption after a full-scale power outage darkened the entire island on Wednesday, cutting electricity and water service to millions just days before Easter Sunday. The blackout, which began around noon, left 1.4 million residents without electricity and more than 400,000 without running water. For many Puerto Ricans, the crisis is another painful reminder of a fragile and unreliable power grid that has yet to fully recover from past disasters.
By Thursday afternoon, restoration efforts had made significant progress: more than 850,000 customers — about 58% — had electricity restored, and 89% had access to water again. Authorities expect the majority of homes and businesses to have power within 48 to 72 hours, though full service could take longer depending on repair needs.
Leadership Response and Frustration
Governor Jenniffer González, who cut her vacation short to return to the island, acknowledged the scale of the crisis. “This is a shame for the people of Puerto Rico that we have a problem of this magnitude,” she said at a Thursday news conference.
She added that it will take at least three days before officials can determine the root cause of the outage. Early theories include a failure or explosion involving several key breakers or an issue with overgrown vegetation impacting the grid — the latter of which should have been preventable.
“Our system is very fragile,” González warned. “There’s still a long road of recovery.” She also mentioned that a boiler failure at a power plant will take at least a week to fix, potentially affecting electricity generation into next week as the island returns from holiday.
A Pattern of Collapse
This week’s outage is the second full-island blackout in just four months — the last occurred on New Year’s Eve — and adds to a string of major failures since Hurricane Maria decimated the grid in 2017. That storm exposed decades of neglect and underinvestment in Puerto Rico’s electric infrastructure and accelerated efforts to privatize portions of the system.
The private firms now overseeing electricity operations — Luma Energy, responsible for transmission and distribution, and Genera PR, responsible for power generation — have faced intense scrutiny and criticism for their handling of outages and restoration efforts.
“This is unacceptable,” González said. “We cannot normalize blackouts.” She added that canceling contracts with Luma and Genera PR is being considered, though she emphasized that the process is legally complex and not immediate.
Economic and Human Costs
The blackout not only disrupted essential services such as hospitals, the island’s main airport, and water treatment facilities, but also severely impacted businesses during a peak tourism period. González estimated a daily revenue loss of around $215 million as a result of the shutdown.
Business leaders are increasingly alarmed. Ramón C. Barquín III, head of the United Retail Center, warned that repeated outages are deterring potential investors. “We cannot continue to repeat this cycle of blackouts without taking concrete measures to strengthen our energy infrastructure,” he said.
Meanwhile, residents struggled to stay cool and maintain basic routines. In Canóvanas, brigades were dispatched to check on elderly residents and those who rely on electric medical equipment. In Vega Alta, officials opened an emergency center for residents with critical medical needs.
Santos Bones Burgos, 62, described spending the entire night on his balcony trying to stay cool. “I fell asleep out there and woke up to someone shouting, ‘The power is back!’” he said.
Dorca Navarrete, a 50-year-old cleaner, said the blackout left her sleepless. “Last night was horrible,” she said. “I woke up with a pounding headache — then I saw the light was from the lamp I’d left on. I smiled.”
What Happened?
Officials are still trying to determine the exact cause of the outage. Josué Colón, Puerto Rico’s energy advisor and former PREPA chief, said it’s possible that vegetation made contact with power lines, though this should have been caught during air patrols. He also questioned why a single failure caused multiple generators to go offline when only one should have entered protective shutdown mode.
Pedro Meléndez, a Luma engineer, said regular patrols had inspected the affected line just last week and had not found any problems. “No imminent risk was identified,” he said during Thursday’s press briefing.
Daniel Hernández of Genera PR explained that the blackout occurred during a vulnerable hour when fewer machines are online to regulate frequency. A disturbance in the system at that time could cascade, leading to a complete shutdown — which is exactly what happened.
Puerto Rico’s aging and debt-ridden power grid, long criticized for its poor resilience, continues to struggle under the weight of these challenges. The Electric Power Authority, currently restructuring over $9 billion in debt, has struggled for years to upgrade critical infrastructure.
With rising temperatures and increased demand ahead, residents and officials alike worry that unless major changes are made — and made soon — Puerto Rico will remain one storm or failure away from another islandwide blackout.
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