Puerto Rico's Power Struggle: Navigating the Latest Island-Wide Blackout

Puerto Rico experienced an island-wide blackout this week, leaving more than 1.45 million customers without electricity. Luma Energy has restored power to 98.8% of clients within 48 hours of the outage. The blackout occurred after a transmission line failure, and authorities are currently investigating the cause.

Power returned to 98.8% of customers early Friday after Puerto Rico endured an island-wide blackout earlier this week, officials confirmed.

Luma Energy, tasked with overseeing power transmission and distribution on the island, reported that more than 1.45 million customers had their electricity restored within 48 hours of the outage.

Despite nearing full restoration, Luma cautioned that some clients might face temporary outages due to restricted power generation capacity.

The blackout, which struck Wednesday afternoon, followed a transmission line failure. Consequently, generators across the island, in a protective measure, shut down. Over 400,000 residents also experienced water outages during this period.

Authorities are scrutinizing whether the failure was due to faulty breakers or possibly overgrown vegetation. Gov. Jenniffer González anticipates receiving a preliminary investigation report shortly.

This incident marks Puerto Rico's second significant blackout within four months, with the last occurring on New Year's Eve.

(With inputs from agencies.)