Puerto Rico suffered a general blackout this Tuesday due to a breakdown that keeps almost 90% of customers without electricity service.
According to data from the company LUMA Energy, in charge of electricity transmission, 1,309,713 customers are without electricity, out of a total of 1,468,223.
The governor of Puerto Rico, Pedro Pierluisi, reported in his X account that it is “a massive blackout that affects a large part of the island due to a critical failure.”
Pierluisi announced that work is already underway to restore service with the San Juan and Palo Seco plants and that the Government is demanding responses and solutions from both LUMA Energy and Genera PR.
The company in charge of generation, Genera PR, indicated that the blackout is due to a breakdown on line 230 of the Costa Sur plant, which caused all units in the system to go out of service.
Puerto Rico’s electrical grid is very weak since it was destroyed during Hurricane Maria in 2017, with blackouts being frequent on the island, although on rare occasions of such magnitude.
Discontent with LUMA’s performance has sparked protests and led to all gubernatorial candidates promising to cancel their contracts with the company during last November’s elections.
