Half of Puerto Rico starts the new year in the dark after massive power outage – ‘A frustratingly frequent occurrence’

Puerto Rico suffered the latest in a string of widespread power outages Tuesday that at one point had nearly 1.3 million businesses or homes — most of the island — in the dark.

An infrastructure problem at a power plant on the island’s southern coast left more than 1 million energy customers without power across the U.S. territory at 5:30 a.m., energy company Luma said in an update on X Tuesday morning.

Miosotis Corretjer, a San Juan resident, said that the situation was “totally frustrating” and that the government wasn’t doing enough.

“The people say that we don’t want Luma because it’s the worst service of electricity that we have in the history of our country,” she said. “It’s sad that in this day, the last day of the year, that impacts our holiday traditions, our Navidad, everything is so sad for the people of Puerto Rico.”

Late Tuesday, Luma announced that electricity for more than 700,000 customers had been restored, amounting to a return of power for nearly half of the customers who had been in the dark.

“Critical facilities, including more than 16 hospitals such as the Naguabo Hospital, and essential infrastructure like the Super Aqueduct and other Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority installations, have been re-energized,” it said in an earlier update Tuesday evening.

Luma continued, “Our teams continue to work diligently toward full restoration.”

The news was one of multiple updates informing Puerto Ricans that power was returning, albeit in often small steps.

Luma said in an earlier statement that the fault appeared to be an underground cable and that it was working with partners to restart the island’s power network.