LUMA focuses all efforts to restore power to customers in heavily impacted communities of Fajardo, Luquillo and Orocovis
San Juan, Puerto Rico, Aug. 21, 2024 – LUMA confirmed today that it has restored power to over 743,000 of the nearly 750,000 customers impacted by Tropical Storm Ernesto. As of 6 p.m. on Wednesday, 99% of all customers, or over 1.45 million, have power, including 243 out of 264 critical facilities impacted and crews continue working to restore electric service to the remaining 6,968customers without power, including targeted efforts in the most heavily impacted municipalities of Fajardo, Luquillo and Orocovis.
“Our crews continue to focus their efforts on restoring power to the remaining 1% of impacted customers, with additional resources in Fajardo, Luquillo and Orocovis, to make repairs and restore service to these three communities. We are in communication with all three mayors, and will continue working until every last customer is restored,” said Juan Saca, LUMA President and CEO.
Municipal Estimated Restoration Timeframes
LUMA crews continue efforts to restore customers across the municipalities that have the greatest outstanding impacts from Tropical Storm Ernesto. LUMA’s restoration work in these communities involves significant repairs to poles and powerlines that span steep terrain and heavy vegetation that presents access issues. LUMA is happy to report that at this time it is estimated that greater than 90% of customers in all municipalities impacted by Ernesto are in service, and LUMA will continue to work to restore each remaining customer. These municipalities may experience variations in restoration progress due to the nature of the repairs to the local electrical system.
Continued Coordination and Communications with Mayors
Before, during, and after the storm, the company has been actively engaging with mayors and municipal leaders daily as they are vital to supporting LUMA crews working to restore power to customers. These outreach efforts include daily regional meetings with mayors and members of their teams and over 1,759 direct contacts with municipalities since activating its emergency response on Wednesday.
Restoration and Response Efforts Underway
LUMA continues to follow the restoration process in accordance with its Emergency Response Plan, which, as of 6 p.m. on Wednesday, includes:
- Dispatching damage assessment and restoration crews to respond to outages – 4,760 aerial and ground assessments completed, with over 3,300 miles patrolled by air and over 322,678 miles traveled by ground that identified damages, including broken poles, downed powerlines, damaged insulators, other hardware and vegetation impacts and material movement in support of restoration efforts.
- Utilizing emergency response resources including ground fleet vehicles and field employees to assess and repair damages – over 1,700 field workers have been deployed.
- Conducting restoration work in a coordinated manner and under high standards of compliance with safety, prioritizing critical services including health, safety, transportation and communications facilities – assessments identified 264 critical facilities that were prioritized for restoration, power to 243 critical loads, including 100% of all 66 impacted hospitals, has been restored.
- Continuing repairs and restoring power to all affected customers as quickly and safely as possible when generation is available, prioritizing the repairs that impact the largest groups of customers first – 59 transmission line segments have been re-energized and cleared of vegetation to support restoration efforts. Additionally, 100% of all 335 substations are in service.
- Providing customers with timely updates and sharing estimated restoration times (ETRs) across official LUMA channels – LUMA has completed 1,759 direct contacts with mayors or their representatives since activating its emergency response, and continues to share updates with customers, host daily regional meetings with mayors, share updated municipal ETRs.
Keeping Customers Up to Date
Regular updates will continue to be available through the news media, local radio, and the following LUMA customer resources:
- LUMA website: lumapr.com
- Twitter: twitter.com/lumaenergypr
- Facebook: facebook.com/lumapuertorico
- Instagram: instagram.com/lumapuertorico
- LUMA Outage Map: miluma.lumapr.com/outages/outageMap
- Mi LUMA App: miluma.lumapr.com
As a reminder, national or local news media requests must be sent to [email protected].
Urgent Public Safety Message: LUMA urges the public to put their safety first. Call LUMA immediately at 1-844-888-5862 (LUMA) to report any downed lines or electrical emergencies that require immediate attention. Remember to stay away from any low-hanging or downed power lines.
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, clean, and affordable electrical service they deserve. As a customer-centric company, LUMA’s entire workforce is focused on safely delivering an exceptional customer service experience to its 1.5 million customers.
