More Than Half of Puerto Rico Still Doesn’t Have Electricity 40 Hours After Massive Blackout 

According to a FEMA statement, LUMA and PREPA have not submitted transmission and distribution projects, even though $9.5 billion has been approved for the reconstruction and modernization of the island’s electrical system.

The anguish of millions of Puerto Ricans continues to grow after LUMA Energy failed to make good on its promise to restore power to the island within 24 hours.

It has been 40 hours since Wednesday night’s massive blackout, and most people on the island still don’t have electricity.

In a press conference held jointly on Friday, LUMA Energy and Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) said that by this Friday night over a million customers will have electricity restored. Puerto Rico has 3.2 million habitants.

“Tonight we expect, and we can say with confidence, that there will be a million subscribers connected to electricity. And progressively that number is going to increase,” LUMA Energy Vice President Kevin Acevedo said.

According to experts, the hours without electricity have caused interruptions in the supply chain, an increase in the demand for gasoline, and failures in telecommunications. And then there is the food loss experienced by millions of people who couldn’t keep their food fresh in the refrigerator without electricity.

On Thursday, FEMA said in a written statement that it have not received transmission and distribution proposals from LUMA or PREPA since $9.25 billion was approved in September of 2020 for the reconstruction and modernization of the island’s electrical system. The agency added that it has only received five proposals for substations and five proposals for improvements to four generation plants.

One of the constant concerns many Puerto Ricans have expressed on social media is that if a single breaker caused this situation, how prepared are LUMA and PREPA to face the hurricane season that begins on June 1 and runs until Nov. 30?