A breakdown caused a massive blackout this Tuesday on New Year’s Eve in Puerto Rico and the complete restoration of electrical service is not expected until tomorrow or Thursday, which increased citizen frustration.
According to data from LUMA Energy, the company in charge of electricity transmission, the blackout affected 90% of customers and at 1:00 p.m. local time (17:00 GMT), in one of the latest updates, 1,201,619 subscribers, of a total of 1,468,223 (81.84%) were still without electricity.
“It has been very strong, I have had to change all my farewell plans for the year. We were going to celebrate it at my house, but since I don’t have a plant facility (electric generator) I now have to celebrate with the family in another ‘location’,” Javier Corea, 31 years old and resident in San Juan, lamented to EFE. .
In the opinion of Corea, who is an electrician, “the situation is going to be difficult” because now many LUMA employees are on vacation, so he predicted that “they are going to leave many people without electricity for a long time.”
The blackout was due to a breakdown in underground line 230 of the Costa Sur power plant, which is being investigated. This caused all units in the system to go out of service.
Vital facilities, the priority of a slow process
“Our priorities are the hospitals, the airport, the police headquarters, the firefighters. We are already surpassing that part and essential customers are already receiving service,” the Director of External Affairs of LUMA Energy, José Pérez, told reporters.
Due to the blackout, the Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport was operating with electric generators, urban train operations were temporarily suspended and several large shopping centers remained closed.
Pérez explained that they have to be “very careful” when injecting the generation to avoid “having a fall in the system and losing everything.”
“We continue working and tonight there will be an additional number of people in Puerto Rico who will have service but, certainly, the entire town will not have service,” he acknowledged.
Numerous restaurants and nightclubs were quick to announce on social media that they are running on electric generators to be able to serve customers who want to say goodbye to the year there, including those in the famous Placita de Santurce, in San Juan.
Puerto Rico’s electrical grid is very fragile since it was destroyed during Hurricane Maria in 2017, with blackouts being frequent on the island, although usually not of this magnitude.
Growing popular anger and despair
Protests against LUMA due to blackouts and the increase in electricity rates have occurred in recent years and many citizens called for new demonstrations on this day.
The urban artist Bad Bunny, whose song ‘El apagón’ is a criticism of the poor management of the electrical system on the island, also took to social networks to express his discomfort.
“This is how you spend a farewell to the new year in Puerto Rico, without electricity. Normal,” posted Bad Bunny, who in last November’s elections called to vote against the ruling New Progressive Party (PNP) for various reasons, including blackouts.
The position regarding LUMA of Jenniffer González, the PNP gubernatorial candidate who won the elections, has been ambiguous. From initially refusing to cancel the contract, to saying that he was going to fire the company.
After today’s blackout, González, who will be sworn into office in two days, demanded to “work quickly and with much more urgency” to restore electricity service on the island.
“We cannot continue with an energy system that fails our people so much. Events such as this morning’s blackout and the uncertainty of a prompt energization of the island continue to affect our economy and quality of life,” González said.
Puerto Ricans, meanwhile, are dealing with the lack of light in their homes and on the streets, where most traffic lights do not work, and are preparing to celebrate the arrival of 2025 in the dark.
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