One of the fastest restorations from a blackout in the history of Puerto Rico.

April 18, 2025 – San Juan, Puerto Rico — LUMA announced today that, as of April 18, electric service has been restored to 1,450,367 customers, representing 98.8% of all customers, following the island-wide event that began on April 16. Restoration was completed in less than 38 hours and exceeded the initial estimates that expected 90% restoration to take between 48 and 72 hours.

The scope and scale of LUMA’s overall emergency response has included the following actions: 

• Activation of the Emergency Operations Center, which remained open 24/7 during restoration work  
• Coordination of local restoration response through the activation of Regional Operation Command Centers
• Damage assessments and aerial inspections of 230kV and 115kV transmission lines  
• Inter-agency coordinators stationed at the Emergency Management Bureau and participating in multiple daily meetings  
• Ongoing and collaborative communication with generation companies to support system restoration progress 
• Continued evaluation of transmission lines and substations  
• Ongoing coordination with local officials, government agencies, municipalities, and critical infrastructure entities  
• Continued deployment and dedication of LUMA’s field crews, engineers, and support teams to safely restore service to remaining customers

“This level of response proves that we not only have the expertise in Puerto Rico to manage events of this magnitude, but that we also have a well-designed and functioning plan in place. We deeply appreciate the support and leadership of Governor Jenniffer González, as well as the collaboration government agencies, emergency responders, and municipal leaders across the island, which has been instrumental in achieving this rapid restoration.  These combined efforts led to one of the fastest restorations ever in the history of our island and prove the importance of working together to address the energy needs of our customers and communities.  Working with all our local partners, LUMA is committed to conducting an investigation, and taking the critical actions to prevent similar events in the future” said Juan Saca, CEO and President of LUMA.

Cause of April 16 Outage: Preliminary Assessment
Initial and preliminary assessments indicate that the outage was triggered by a fault on a transmission line between Cambalache and Manatí. While multiple equipment were in place to detect and isolate the fault, several key protection systems did not operate as designed. These legacy protection systems were installed prior to LUMA taking over operation of the T&D system. As a result, the fault, coupled with the failure of these protection systems, triggered a cascading event across the system, leading to widespread service interruptions.

The inability of the protective infrastructure to function under stress – due to long-standing system deterioration which pre-dates LUMA – mirrors the root cause of a similar system-wide event that occurred in December. Both events highlight the deep, underlying fragility of Puerto Rico’s electric grid, which remains vulnerable due to aging infrastructure and a lack of historic investment. LUMA is committed to conducting a full investigation into the root cause of this event which will be submitted once it’s complete.

Current State of the Restoration
While restoration is complete, there continues to be a risk of service interruptions due to the ongoing instability of the island’s generation resources and potential weather impacts. LUMA is also aware of about 2,404 customers that remain without power since the event due to local interruptions. LUMA crews will continue working as quickly and safely as possible to restore service to the 2,404 customers and will be ready to respond, as usual, over the Easter Holiday weekend.

Customers can stay by visiting www.lumapr.com as well as stay informed through our social media channels.

About LUMA

LUMA is a Puerto Rican company that, since June 1, 2021, operates and manages the electric power transmission and distribution system in Puerto Rico. LUMA is a company driven by a mission to transform the electrical transmission and distribution system to provide all Puerto Ricans with the reliable, resilient, cleaner, and affordable electrical grid they deserve. As a customer-centric company, LUMA’s entire workforce of more than 4,000 employees is focused on safely delivering an exceptional customer service experience to its 1.5 million customers.