Puerto Rico Restores Power to 98.8% of Customers After Island-Wide Blackout Ahead of Easter Weekend

An island-wide blackout in Puerto Rico earlier this week left many residents without power, but authorities have reported significant progress in restoring electricity. According to Luma Energy, the company responsible for the transmission and distribution of power on the island, more than 1.45 million customers, or approximately 98.8% of those affected, had their power restored within 48 hours of the outage. The blackout, which began on Wednesday afternoon, was attributed to a failure in a transmission line, leading to a protective shutdown of generators across the island.

The restoration efforts were largely successful, with power being restored to nearly all customers by early Friday. However, Luma Energy has cautioned that some customers might still experience temporary outages due to limited power generation capacity. The company continues to work on stabilizing the power supply to ensure consistent service for all residents.

The timing of the blackout coincided with preparations for the Easter weekend, a significant period for the predominantly Catholic population of Puerto Rico. The outage prompted residents to seek alternative power sources, such as generators, to maintain essential services and activities. In San Juan, for example, business owners like Nurys Perez resorted to using generators to keep their operations running during the power disruption.

As the island moves towards full recovery from the blackout, authorities and energy providers are focusing on addressing the underlying issues that led to the transmission line failure. Efforts are being made to enhance the resilience of the power infrastructure to prevent similar incidents in the future, ensuring a more reliable electricity supply for Puerto Rico’s residents.