Puerto Rico plunges into darkness as power outage hits more than 1.3 million customers on New Year’s Eve

Puerto Rico suffered the latest in a string of widespread power outages Tuesday that has left 1.3 million customers, some 80% of the entire island, in the dark.

More than 1 million energy customers were without power across the U.S. territory since 5:30 a.m. due to an infrastructure problem at a power plant on the island’s southern coast, energy company LUMA said in an update on X.

LUMA said in a statement that the fault appeared to be an underground cable and that it was working with partners to restart the island’s power network.

“LUMA will be restoring power to customers in phases. We’ve already begun the process of reenergizing some customers, with the full restoration process taking between 24 and 48 hours as conditions permit,” the company said.  

Josué Colón, director of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, said in a radio interview that a problem with a power line in the south caused a “cascade effect” that led to multiple power plants failing. He said it would take “much of the day” to fix the problem.

Puerto Rican Gov. Pedro Pierluisi said on X that he was in touch with LUMA and the private energy company Genera PR.

“We are demanding answers and solutions from both LUMA and Genera, who must expedite the restart of the generating units outside the fault area and keep the people duly informed about the measures they are taking to restore service throughout the Island,” he said.

The Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport said it was working on electricity generators but that flights were operating normally.

Power outages are a frustratingly frequent occurrence for many Puerto Ricans. A string of blackouts during the summer sparked protests and prompted San Juan Mayor Miguel Romero to declare a state of emergency.

Those protests led to the U.S.-owned Genera PR taking over management of previously state-owned power stations, which are on average 45 years old — twice the age of equivalent facilities on the U.S. mainland — and highly reliant on fossil fuels.

More than 700,000 customers were without power in Puerto Rico in August when Tropical Storm Ernesto hit the island.