Puerto Rico was plunged into darkness on Wednesday after a massive power failure knocked out electricity to the entire island, disrupting travel, business operations and essential services as residents prepared for the Easter holiday.
Luma Energy, the private operator overseeing electricity distribution, confirmed the outage affected all 1.4 million customers. By late evening, electricity had only been restored to 12% of users.
At least 328,000 people were left without water as the blackout impacted pumping stations.
The disruption hit the island’s main airport, hospitals and major tourist areas. Hotels, nearing full occupancy for the Easter season, relied on generators to maintain operations.
“It is unacceptable that we have a failure of this magnitude,” said Governor Jenniffer González, who returned early from a vacation to address the crisis.
Authorities expect power to be restored for most residents within 48 to 72 hours.
The cause of the failure was not immediately identified, but officials reported a disturbance in the transmission system occurred around midday on Wednesday, during a period of reduced grid stability.
Puerto Rico, home to 3.2 million people, has faced repeated grid failures in recent years. The latest island-wide outage follows a New Year’s Eve blackout and a string of smaller disruptions.
The grid, heavily damaged during Hurricane Maria in 2017, remains fragile despite federal funding and past reform promises.
Anger spread across the island, with residents calling for the government to cancel contracts with Luma and Genera PR, the company responsible for power generation.
Governor González pledged to launch an investigation and said her government was already reviewing options to terminate Luma’s contract. However, she acknowledged the process would not be quick. “Puerto Rico can’t be the island where the power goes out all the time,” she said.
The White House said it had reached out to Puerto Rican officials and was ready to provide support if requested. Energy officials warned that summer could bring further challenges as electricity demand peaks.
Around 117,000 homes and businesses in Puerto Rico currently use solar rooftops, but most residents still rely on a centralised power grid largely fuelled by petroleum and natural gas.
Only 7% of the island’s energy currently comes from renewable sources, according to the US Energy Information Administration.
