Puerto Rico has gone dark. The U.S. territory experienced a blackout in the early morning hours of New Year’s Eve. It left more than 1.3 million people without power. That is equivalent to nearly 90 percent of customers.
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LUMA Energy, a private company that is responsible for electricity transmission and distribution on the island, tweeted about the situation. The company classified it as “a system-wide blackout.”
As for what led to the blackout, LUMA tweeted that “preliminary findings point to a fault on an underground line.” However, the cause remains under investigation.
Meanwhile, according to NBC News, Josué Colón, the director of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, said in a radio interview that a problem with a power line in the south caused a “cascade effect” that led to multiple power plants failing.
LUMA said that it’s activated its Emergency Operations Center as it works to restart the electrical system and restore power. It plans to do so in phases, with some restorations scheduled to take up to 48 hours.
In a follow up tweet, LUMA said that power has already been restored to some areas, including The Medical Center and the Municipal Hospital of San Juan.
“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,” Puerto Rico’s governor, Pedro Pierluisi, wrote on X.
Power failures are par for the course in Puerto Rico. Over the summer, blackouts in San Juan led to protests and prompted the city’s mayor to declare a state of emergency. Genera PR was enlisted shortly thereafter to take over control of aging—and malfunctioning—power stations throughout the island. Still, Hurricane Ernesto caused more than 700,000 customers to lose power in August.