Exposing yet another catastrophic failure of the government-contracted power companies, an entire Caribbean island’s electrical grid collapsed, plunging 1.4 million citizens into darkness ahead of Easter weekend.
See the tweet and video below.
Puerto Rico’s blackout marks the second major outage in just four months, leaving homes without power, hospitals on generators, and tourists stranded.
The massive outage began at 12:40 p.m. when a critical failure in the electrical transmission system triggered a domino effect that shut down all generating plants across the island.
By Wednesday evening, 88% of Puerto Rico’s customers remained without electricity, and officials estimated that full restoration would take up to 72 hours.
Governor Jenniffer González cut short her vacation to address the crisis, expressing the frustration felt by millions.
“There are no words that can ease the frustration we feel as a people in the face of another massive blackout,” González said, adding that she plans to cancel the contract with Luma Energy, though the process would take time.
The timing of the blackout could not be worse for the U.S. territory, with hotels near capacity due to Easter vacations.
Beyond tourism, at least 328,000 residents were left without water, while public transportation ground to a halt and businesses closed their doors.
Many residents, unable to afford generators, crowded around businesses to buy ice in a desperate attempt to save food from spoiling.
For Puerto Ricans who remember the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Maria in 2017, this latest infrastructure failure represents the continued neglect of American citizens by both local contractors and federal authorities.
Eight years after the hurricane decimated the power grid, reliable electricity remains elusive despite billions in federal aid allocated for repairs.
“Puerto Rico can’t be the island where the power goes out all the time,” González declared, calling the situation “unacceptable.”
Puerto Rico hit with massive island-wide blackout ahead of Easter weekend https://t.co/xbKe1YTPzb
— Fox News (@FoxNews) April 17, 2025
The economic impact is staggering, with the blackout estimated to cause $230 million in daily revenue losses.
Meanwhile, elderly residents and those dependent on electronic medical equipment face life-threatening circumstances.
Luma Energy, the private company responsible for power transmission and distribution since 2021, claimed the outage resulted from a failure in the protection system and vegetation near a transmission line.
According to a statement, the company’s investigation revealed that “this sequence of failures triggered a chain of events that resulted in an island-wide outage.”
While the past administration previously pushed for renewable energy solutions on the island, little progress has materialized.
The failure highlights how government-contracted utilities continue to deliver substandard service while charging Puerto Ricans some of the highest electricity rates in the United States.
As crews worked overnight to restore power to critical facilities like hospitals and airports, many residents expressed anger toward both Luma Energy and Genera PR, the power generation company.
By early Thursday morning, service had been restored to approximately half of the customers, though hundreds of thousands remained in darkness.
The recurring blackouts have driven many Puerto Ricans to install solar panels and batteries, seeking independence from an unreliable grid.
However, with high poverty rates on the island, these solutions remain out of reach for many Americans, leaving them at the mercy of failing infrastructure and broken government promises.
