SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, June 13, (AP): A widespread power outage hit Puerto Rico Wednesday night, leaving more than 340,000 customers without electricity after two of the US territory’s power plants shut down.
The capital of San Juan was left without power, as well as neighboring municipalities including Bayamón, Caguas and Carolina.
Luma Energy, which operates transmission and distribution for Puerto Rico’s power authority, said on X that the outage was tied to an issue with the power plants’ transmission lines. It provided a statement to The Associated Press saying it was investigating the outage that coincided with the shutdown of units operated by Genera PR, which operates and maintains state power generation units.
Gov Pedro Pierluisi condemned the outage and said he was demanding answers and solutions from Luma and Genera PR.
"The events that have been occurring in recent weeks with our electrical system are unacceptable,” he posted on X. "While it is true that we have old plants and transmission lines in terrible condition, the people continue to suffer the consequences of the lack of sense of urgency that private operators are demonstrating.”
Both Luma and Genera PR were selected as private operators under Pierluisi's administration.
The outage is the most recent in a string of blackouts to hit Puerto Rico, which is still trying to rebuild the grid after Hurricane Maria razed it in 2017 as a Category 4 storm.