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Entire Puerto Rico Plunged Into Darkness After Major Power Outage
A widespread power outage on Wednesday afternoon knocked out electricity across the entire island of Puerto Rico, leaving over 1.4 million residents in the dark and prompting a federal response.
The blackout began around 12:40 p.m. EDT, according to Luma Energy, the company responsible for electricity distribution across the island. The cause of the outage was not immediately confirmed, but Luma stated that all power plants on the island had gone offline, bringing electricity supply to a complete stop.
By 5 p.m., Luma's online systems were also down, showing limited or no real-time updates on restoration efforts.
Federal Help Mobilized As Grid Crumbles Again
The Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration confirmed that it is working closely with the White House and other federal agencies to help restore power and ensure essential services are returned safely.
While Luma’s status tracker briefly showed a third of customers had electricity shortly after the blackout, a spokesperson told The New York Times that this was likely inaccurate, as none of the power plants were producing power at the time.
Puerto Rico’s Fragile Grid Under Scrutiny Again
This isn’t the first time Puerto Rico has suffered such a large-scale blackout. The island has experienced recurring power issues for years.
In 2017, Hurricanes Irma and Maria caused the collapse of the grid, leaving parts of the island without power for nearly a year. More recently, on New Year’s Eve 2024, another outage left much of the island in the dark.
Although Puerto Rico passed the Energy Public Policy Act in 2019 — aiming for full grid modernization by 2050 — progress has been slow, and frequent blackouts continue to frustrate both residents and officials.
Ongoing Challenges and What’s Next
As of now, there’s no confirmed timeline for when full power will be restored. Luma Energy has not yet issued an updated explanation about the cause of the failure.
The outage once again highlights the island's deep infrastructure issues, and raises concerns over how prepared Puerto Rico is for future weather events or system failures.
Authorities are urging people to remain calm and to avoid non-essential electricity usage if they have backup power or generators.
