Energy blackout hits all of Puerto Rico as residents put together for Easter weekend

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — An influence blackout hit all of Puerto Rico on Wednesday because the closely Catholic U.S. territory ready to rejoice the Easter weekend.

All 1.4 million shoppers have been affected, Hugo Sorrentini, spokesman for Luma Power, which oversees the transmission and distribution of energy, advised The Related Press. By late Wednesday evening, crews had restored energy to almost 100,000 shoppers, or about 7%, though the quantity was anticipated to fluctuate.

Accommodations have been close to capability, with hundreds of vacationers celebrating Easter holidays on the island. Tourism officers rushed to reassure them that many lodges and different companies have been working with mills.

In the meantime, not less than 328,000 shoppers have been with out water.

“It is unacceptable that we have a failure of this magnitude in the transmission of the electrical system,” mentioned Gov. Jenniffer González, who minimize brief her weeklong trip and flew again to Puerto Rico on Wednesday evening.

Officers mentioned 90% of shoppers would doubtless have electrical energy 48 to 72 hours after the blackout occurred.

It was not instantly clear what triggered the shutdown, the newest in a string of main blackouts on the island in recent times.

Hundreds of Puerto Ricans have been fuming over the newest outage, with many renewing their calls that the federal government cancel the contract with Luma and Genera PR, which oversees era of energy on the island.

“This is a total disaster,” mentioned Orlando Huertas, 68, as he sipped a drink with a pal at a streetside bar and criticized the federal government for not doing sufficient to sort out the continual outages.

Dozens of individuals have been pressured to stroll on an overpass subsequent to the rails of the speedy transit system that serves the capital, San Juan, whereas scores of companies together with the most important mall within the Caribbean have been pressured to shut. Skilled baseball and basketball video games have been cancelled because the hum of mills and odor of smoke stuffed the air. Visitors turned snarled as law enforcement officials have been deployed to busy intersections.

Reggaeton celebrity Unhealthy Bunny echoed the collective rage, writing on X: “When are we going to do something?”

The governor pledged late Wednesday that she would cancel the contract with Luma, however famous that whereas authorities officers have began analyzing the contract and discovering attainable replacements, it would not be a fast course of.

González additionally mentioned that she has requested an in-depth investigation into the blackout, noting that officers have already got warned there will not be sufficient era of energy for this summer season, when demand peaks.

“Puerto Rico can’t be the island where the power goes out all the time,” González mentioned. “We’re going to take action. Let people have no doubts.”

Clients sit inside a restaurant lit by battery-powered lanterns throughout an island-wide energy outage, in Outdated San Juan, Puerto Rico, Wednesday, April 16, 2025.

Alejandro Granadillo/AP

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Alejandro Granadillo/AP

Whereas energy restoration on the primary island of Puerto Rico was shifting slowly to guard tools, emergency era stations restored energy to the tiny neighboring island of Culebra and elements of neighboring Vieques, mentioned Josué Colón, the island’s so-called vitality czar and former government director of Puerto Rico’s Electrical Energy Authority.

These with out mills crowded round grocery shops and different companies to purchase ice throughout Puerto Rico.

“I’m desperate. My generator is broken,” mentioned Carmen Suriel, who nervous concerning the influence of the blackout on her two youngsters, a six-month-old and a five-year-old with Down syndrome, because the temperature rose throughout Puerto Rico on Wednesday.

Alma Ramírez, 69, mentioned she was pissed off with the fixed outages, a few of which had already broken her TV and microwave, forcing her to purchase new home equipment.

“They have to improve,” she mentioned of the federal government. “Those who are affected are us, the poor.”

The island of three.2 million residents has a greater than 40% poverty price, and never everybody can afford photo voltaic panels or mills. Whereas there was a push to make use of extra renewable vitality sources below the administration of former U.S. President Joe Biden, which offered Puerto Rico with mega mills and different assets, specialists fear that will not occur below U.S. President Donald Trump.

Roughly 117,000 properties and companies on the island have photo voltaic rooftops. In the meantime, petroleum-fired energy crops present 62% of Puerto Rico’s energy, pure fuel 24%, coal 8% and renewables 7%, in keeping with the U.S. Power Info Administration.

Daniel Hernández, vice chairman of operations at Genera PR, mentioned at a information convention {that a} disturbance hit the transmission system shortly after midday on Wednesday, throughout a time when the grid is susceptible as a result of there usually are not many machines regulating frequency at that hour.

Verónica Ferraiuoli, appearing governor and secretary of state for Puerto Rico, mentioned the White Home reached out to native officers and mentioned they’re obtainable if wanted.

Pablo José Hernández, Puerto Rico’s consultant in Congress, mentioned he would work to make sure that “Washington understands the real and urgent situation Puerto Ricans face every day.”

“The electric grid crisis is frustrating, and after years of blackouts, it feels like it’s going from bad to worse,” he mentioned.

The final islandwide blackout occurred on New 12 months’s Eve.

Puerto Rico has struggled with continual outages since September 2017 when Hurricane Maria pummeled the island as a robust Class 4 storm, razing an influence grid that crews are nonetheless struggling to rebuild.

The grid already had been deteriorating because of many years of a scarcity of upkeep and funding below Puerto Rico’s Electrical Energy Authority, which is struggling to restructure greater than $9 billion in debt.