Energy has been restored to almost 99% of customers, Luma Energy said in an update on early Friday.
Luma Energy gave an update at 5 AM on Friday morning, saying that almost 1.5 million people, or 98.8% of their customers, have now restored their energy.
“Luma is still focused on completing the restoration and will continue to work until all customers have service,” said Luma Energy statement. “From 5:00 am on April 18, Luma had restored energy to 1,450,367 clients, representing 98.8% of the total, in less than 48 hours since the interruption began throughout the island.”
“With this progress, Luma has fulfilled its initial projection to restore service to at least 90% of customers at 12:40 pm on Friday,” the statement continued. “The Luma Emergency Operations Center (LEOC) remains active, and the teams continue to work quickly and safely to stabilize the system and restore service to the remaining customers.”
Luma said that although their work is about to finish, some customers can continue to experience temporary interruptions due to the limited generation.
Between 98% and 100% of hospitals in most regions have restored their energy together with most water and telecommunications systems and 100% of correctional institutions, Luma said.
“The company continues to prioritize the restoration of critical infrastructure, including hospitals, water plants, airports and emergency services,” Luma said.
Archive Photo: The cars drive along a dark street after Puerto Rico was beaten with a massive power cut where energy plants through the island extend unexpectedly, in San Juan, Puerto Rico on April 16, 2025.
Ricardo Ardungo/Reuters
The private electricity company, responsible for the transmission of energy on the island, said that the mass interruption seems to have been caused by a combination of factors, including a “failure in the protection system as an initial trigger” and vegetation in a transmission line between the areas of Campaleche and Manatí, along the north coast of the island.
This last interruption is the last of a series of significant blackouts that have plagued the island in recent years, after the devastation of Hurricane Maria in 2017, which destroyed much of the electricity network.
In December, Puerto Rico experienced a blackout throughout the island on the eve of the New Year when a failure of the underground electricity submerged the island in the dark for two days.
The power cuts have become so common in Puerto Rico that many residents have installed solar panels and batteries in their homes and businesses. The continuous instability of the Electricity Network has also led to protests, and many criticized Luma, which took over the transmission and distribution of energy in 2021.
Ahmad Hemingway and Doc Louallen of ABC News contributed to this report.
