San Juan, Puerto Rico — A massive power outage hit nearly all of Puerto Rico early Tuesday as the U.S. territory prepared to celebrate New Year’s Eve. More than 1.2 million out of 1.47 million clients were without power, according to Luma Energy, a private company that oversees electricity transmission and distribution on the island.
It wasn’t immediately clear what caused the widespread blackout or when power would be restored. Luma officials did not immediately return a message for comment.
In a post on X, Luma said it was in touch with crews and companies overseeing the generation of power in Puerto Rico to solve the outage. It said it would offer details as soon as possible.
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A spokesperson for Genera PR, which oversees power generation, could not be immediately reached for comment.
Puerto Rico Governor Pedro Pierluisi said in a post on social media that his administration was communicating with both LUMA and Genera “regarding the massive blackout affecting a large part of the Island due to a critical fault.”
He said work was underway to restore electrical supply and that the government was “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.”
Speaking to the Telemundo network late Monday, however, Josué Colón, head of Puerto Rico’s electric energy authority, said it could take several days to fully restore service.
Puerto Rico continues to struggle with chronic power outages blamed on a crumbling power grid that was razed by Hurricane Maria, a powerful category 4 storm that struck the island in September 2017. The system was already in decline prior to the storm given years of lack of maintenance and investment.
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