LUMA Energy restores power to nearly all of Puerto Rico after massive outage
- An island-wide blackout occurred, affecting 1.4 million customers and leading to severe water supply shortages.
- Restoration efforts by LUMA Energy restored power to nearly 99% of customers within two days.
- Continued instability of the power grid has led to public protests and frustrations among residents.
In the wake of a significant blackout that affected Puerto Rico this week, nearly 1.5 million customers were left without power, alongside over 400,000 people lacking water supply. The massive outage began on April 16, 2025, when a transmission line failure prompted large generating plants to shut down. Power restoration efforts were spearheaded by LUMA Energy, the company responsible for managing Puerto Rico's power transmission. Within two days, LUMA Energy reported that it successfully restored electricity to approximately 98.8% of its customers. As of April 18, 2025, power had been restored to 1,450,367 customers, marking a significant milestone in a challenging situation. The company had aimed to restore service to at least 90% of customers by early Friday afternoon, a target which they achieved ahead of schedule. During the restoration efforts, LUMA Energy prioritized critical infrastructure like hospitals and water plants to ensure essential services resumed promptly. Authorities attributed the initial blackout to a combination of factors, including a malfunction in the power protection system and vegetation on a key transmission line between Campaleche and ManatÃ. Protests had erupted among the island's residents, many of whom demanded an explanation for the outage and called for the cancellation of LUMA Energy's contracts. The situation is particularly contentious given Puerto Rico's history with power outages following the devastation of Hurricane Maria in 2017, which highlighted systemic issues within the power grid. Despite the rapid restoration of service, some customers still faced ongoing intermittent outages due to limited power generation capability. This incident is the latest in a line of blackouts representing ongoing challenges in stabilizing the energy supply on the island, where residents have increasingly turned to alternative energy sources like solar panels. Following the restoration efforts, LUMA Energy acknowledged that while significant progress had been made, full service stabilization would take continued efforts in the days ahead.