The island of Puerto Rico deprived of electricity for New Year's Eve, gradual return to normal

New Year's Eve in the dark: Puerto Rico, a territory associated with the United States, was deprived of electricity on Tuesday, December 31, as well as a good part of the night of New Year's Eve, due to an outage affecting almost all of this Caribbean island. But the return to normal was faster than expected: according to a final count established on Wednesday at 8 a.m. in Paris, service had been restored for more than a million customers, or around 69% of those affected. After dark, the capital San Juan remained largely shrouded in darkness.

The outage would be linked to an overload on the external station of a high voltage cable in the south of the island, which “led to a cascading effect first on Costa Sur and then throughout Puerto Rico”explained Luma's director of external affairs, José Perez, interviewed by Agence France-Presse.

He then explained that it would be necessary “About fifty-eight hours to return to normal. We have started to restore service, several areas in the metropolitan area have power again, particularly the medical center area and the hospitals therein”. Power has also returned to the region of the Plata aqueduct, which supplies the island with drinking water, he assured.

Energy suppliers singled out

The outage began at 5:30 a.m. Tuesday (10:30 a.m. in Paris) on the island of around three million inhabitants, according to LUMA. “No American should be forced to start the new year in the dark. I share the frustration of many Puerto Ricans facing yet another widespread power outage on the island. They deserve better”American Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm commented on X.

The United States government “monitoring the breakdown closely” and stands “ready to help” Puerto Rican authorities, she added. Located east of Cuba and west of Guadeloupe, the island is home to a total of 3.2 million inhabitants who, due to their special status, hold American nationality but cannot, for example, participate in elections only if they are on United States soil.

“We have been facing this problem for a while and rumors have been circulating in recent months that what happened today could happen”told AFP Ismael Pérez, a resident of Dorado, west of San Juan. “They say we will be without electricity for almost three days or more”he added apologetically at a gas station, pointing out the responsibility of current energy suppliers.

The island's governor, Pedro Pierluisi, said he was in contact throughout the day with President Joe Biden and his energy secretary. “We demand answers and solutions, both from LUMA and Genera”the other electricity supplier, he said on X. “This is a long and arduous process that requires local and federal collaboration”.

Almost all production sites were shut down mid-morning on Tuesday but production then gradually resumed during the day, according to the Genera website, which allows real-time monitoring.