Residents across Puerto Rico face the prospect of ending 2024 without electricity, as a major blackout has hit the island. The power outage, caused by technical problems within the island’s aging power grid, is the latest example of Puerto Rico’s aging and fragile infrastructure failing. The situation has renewed frustrations among Puerto Ricans, who were told that privatization and upgrades would improve the island’s energy structure.

Most of Puerto Rico left powerless by grid failure

Luma Energy, a private company that distributes electricity throughout Puerto Rico, reported Tuesday morning that over 1.2 million of its 1.47 million clients were left without electricity after a massive failure of the country’s power grid, CBS News reported. Luma said it was investigating the cause of the blackout, and wrote that “preliminary findings point to a failure in an underground line” as the source of the problem, according to a translation of the company’s Spanish-language post on X, formerly known as Twitter. Genera PR, a private company in charge of power generation in Puerto Rico, reported that the failure of Luma’s line knocked out Genera’s power plants and others across the island. Luma has reported that power has been restored to some customers, including at least two medical facilities in San Juan, but the company estimated that it may take 24 to 48 hours to fully restore electricity across the island.

As reported by The Associated Press, some residents of Puerto Rico have been able to use private generators to restore power to their own homes, and others, like 49-year-old Enid Núñez, used appliances such as gas stoves to go about their days while the electricity was out. Not everyone has or can afford such measures, however, and many people are angry or disappointed at the outage, especially on New Year’s Eve. “It had to be on the 31st of December!” a man named Manuel, who’s birthday is apparently Dec. 31 as well, said, per AP. “There is no happiness,” he added.

History of power failures creates frustration with government and power companies

Puerto Rico has had a history of blackouts in recent years. Hurricane Maria, which devastated the island in 2017, damaged the power grid. Just this year, 350,000 people were left without power during a blackout in June, and 700,000 lost electricity as a result of Hurricane Ernesto in August. In past years, Puerto Rico’s electricity problems had been blamed on poor management by the state, including failures to replace aging infrastructure. In order to  reform these systems, Puerto Rico privatized its energy sector, with Luma being given control of the energy grid and a separate company, Genera PR, chosen in 2023 to be in charge of generating electricity for the island. Despite the privatization, blackouts have continued and anger has been directed at the private corporations as well as the government for failing to significantly improve the energy grid as promised. The June power outages led to public protests and caused San Juan Mayor Miguel Romero to declare a state of emergency for the city.

Puerto Rican Gov. Pedro Pierluisi posted on X that his office was in communication with both companies. “We are 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,” he wrote, according to a translation of the Spanish-language tweet.

As crews work to restore power quickly and safely across Puerto Rico, 2024 is set to end with another harrowing situation for an island struck by multiple crises in recent years. This latest failure is only adding to the list of frustrations Puerto Ricans have regarding the island’s government and the private companies that seem to be falling short in their promises to make things better.

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