Puerto Rico Power Outage Leaves Most of Island in Darkness on New Year’s Eve

A street is dark during a blackout in San Juan, Puerto Rico, after sunset on Dec. 31, 2024. Alejandro Granadillo/AP Photo

A major power outage struck Puerto Rico in the early hours of Dec. 31, leaving nearly 1.3 million customers without electricity as the island prepared to welcome the new year, LUMA Energy said in a statement posted to social media.

LUMA Energy, the private company responsible for electricity transmission and distribution on the island, said it activated its Emergency Operations Center in response to the crisis.

The blackout, which began around 5:30 a.m., affected nearly 88 percent of LUMA Energy’s customer base across seven regions of the service territory, according to the company’s real-time service status data as of 10:30 a.m. ET.

The impact varies significantly by region, with Arecibo experiencing a complete blackout affecting 100 percent of LUMA’s customers. The Ponce region follows with 96.88 percent of customers without power, while the capital region of San Juan shows the lowest impact at 72.97 percent of customers affected.

“While the cause of the outage is under investigation, preliminary findings point to a fault in an underground line,” LUMA said in the statement. “The cause of the outage remains under investigation.”

The company said that power restoration would occur in phases, with the complete process estimated to take 24 to 48 hours, conditions permitting.

Puerto Rican Gov. Pedro Pierluisi said government officials were in communication with LUMA and another power company, Genera, and the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority regarding the “massive blackout.”

“We can report that work is already underway to restore service with the San Juan and Palo Seco plants,” he said in a post on X. “We are demanding answers and solutions from both LUMA and Genera, who must expedite the restart of the generating units outside the area of the failure and keep the people duly informed about the measures they are taking to restore service throughout the Island.”

Major cities across the island have been impacted. The cities with the largest number of customers facing outages are Caguas (231,487), Ponce (205,884), Mayaguez (194,127), Bayamon (184,990), San Juan (184,676), Arecibo (180,364), and Carolina (106,431).

LUMA has pledged to provide updates every two hours through its social media channels as restoration efforts continue. The company is working in conjunction with Genera and other power generation partners to restart the electrical system and restore power to affected areas.

Puerto Rico is still grappling with a fragile power infrastructure devastated by Hurricane Maria in 2017. The island has been struggling with chronic power outages due to years of deferred maintenance and insufficient investment in its electrical infrastructure.

This New Year’s Eve blackout represents one of the most significant power failures in recent months, affecting essential services and holiday celebrations across the island.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.