Puerto Rico New Year’s Eve is in the dark. On the night of Monday to Tuesday, the island’s power grid collapsed, leaving 90 percent of the population (about 1.37 million people) without light or power.
Luma Energy, one of the two companies—the other is Genera—that manage the national electric service, has determined that from initial reconstructions, the blackout may have been caused by the rupture of an underground cable, and full restoration of electricity could take up to 48 hours. Meanwhile, rescue teams have already reactivated the Centro Médico and Hospital Municipal de San Juan areas in the heart of the capital.
Governor Pedro Pierluisi said in terse tones that the executive is working with Luma Energy and Genera to “restore service in the San Juan and Palo Seco plants. We want answers and solutions.” But this is not the first time such blackouts have forced the entire island into darkness. Puerto Rico’s power grid was privatized after Hurricane Maria in 2017 damaged the system, which was not properly rebuilt. Even last June, more than 350,000 people were without electricity due to another outage.
