Puerto Rico's power plants go offline, leading to widespread island blackout
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An island-wide power outage left 1.4 million people without electricity and 328,000 without water in Puerto Rico on April 16.
April 16 (UPI) -- Every power-generation facility in Puerto Rico unexpectedly went offline Wednesday afternoon, which caused an island-wide blackout, but many have had their power restored.
Local officials are "working diligently with the entire energy component in the face of the blackout," Puerto Rico Gov. Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon said in a social media post.
"As soon as we have more details about the cause of the blackout and the time in which the service will be restored," she will announce it, Gonzalez added.
Puerto Ricans protest outside La Fortaleza during a massive blackout in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico, on April 16, 2025. A major electricity outage struck Puerto Rico after all power plants in the US territory were knocked offline, utility companies said -- the latest huge outage to hit the Caribbean island. (Photo credit: Getty Images)
The island-wide outage occurred shortly after 12:38 p.m. ADT, Puerto Rico Energy Czar Josue Colon told media during a news conference.
"It's unfortunate," Colon said. "There is no way to accept that this is happening in Puerto Rico."
More than 1.4 million customers of private electrical service providers lost power on the island.
"It appears to originate in the southern area in a segment between EcoElectrica and Costa Sur and additional transmission segments," Colon said.
Most customers of the island's various power companies should have their electrical services restored by the end of the day on Thursday, Colon added.
A breakdown was reported in a transmission line connecting power companies in Penuelas and Guayanilla.
"We have experienced a massive blackout across the entire island due to all of the power generation plants unexpectedly going offline," officials for the electric company Genera PR said Wednesday in an online post.
Up to 7,000 customers of LUMA Energy had their service restored by Wednesday afternoon.
While the power is out, local hospitals are relying on generators to enable continued health care services for patients.
LUMA Energy officials reported the power company's Palo Seco power-generation plant went back online at 3 p.m.
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