As of 10:30 p.m., over 1.2 million customers have power across Puerto Rico, with an estimated 500,000+ restored over the last 48 hours.

San Juan, Puerto Rico, Aug. 16, 2024 – LUMA continues to make progress repairing the system and restoring power to customers impacted by Tropical Storm Ernesto, with over 560,000 total impacted customers back in service as of 11 p.m. on Friday. Currently, over 1.2 million customers have power across Puerto Rico and LUMA restoration efforts have now put progress on track to exceed its global estimated time of restoration (ETR) of 90% restored by Sunday, Aug. 18 and expects to hit that milestone on Saturday, August 17th. Approximately 87 percent of customers have power, and 182,000 customers remain without power due to the heavy rains and strong winds from Tropical Storm Ernesto.

“Our LUMA teams remain focused on restoring power to every single customer impacted by Tropical Storm Ernesto. We have assessed the majority of the damaged infrastructure in the heavily impacted areas and are confident in our anticipated global and regional ETRs. We will continue to focus our efforts in the central and eastern areas, and Vieques and Culebra, and will not stop working until every one of our impacted customers has power,” said Juan Saca, LUMA President and CEO.

Regional Estimated Timeframes for Restoration

LUMA has completed over 1,500 ground assessments and helicopter patrols to determine the full extent of the damage to the system. Based on the aerial and ground inspections, LUMA has determined estimated timeframes to restore 90% of customers impacted in each service region, which are shown in the chart below. Given the severity of Tropical Storm Ernesto’s impacts on the central and eastern areas of Puerto Rico, longer restoration times are anticipated due to the nature of the repairs to the local electrical system. Given the nature of restoration, and the fragility of the electrical system, regional ETRs and the global ETR announced earlier today can all be impacted by the complexity of regional repairs and scope of damage. 

Service Region	Estimated Timing for 90% Restoration
Arecibo	Saturday, August 17th
Bayamón	Friday, August 16th – ETR met
Caguas	Sunday, August 18th – ETR achieved early
Carolina	Monday, August 19th
Mayagüez	Sunday, August 18th – ETR achieved early
Ponce	Friday, August 16th – ETR met
San Juan	Monday, August 19th – ETR achieved early
Global System ETR	Saturday, August 17

Data as of 10:30 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 16

Restoration and Response Efforts Underway

LUMA continues to follow the restoration process in accordance with its Emergency Response Plan, which, as of 10:30 p.m. on Friday, includes:

1. Dispatching damage assessment and restoration crews to respond to outages – with over 1,500 aerial and ground assessments completed identifying the San Juan and Caguas regions and the islands of Vieques and Culebra as areas that have sustained the most damage, which includes broken poles, downed powerlines, damaged insulators, other hardware and vegetation impacts.
2. Utilizing emergency response resources including ground fleet vehicles and field employees to assess and repair damages – 1,598 utility workers have been deployed.
3. 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 152 critical facilities that will be prioritized for restoration, of which 36 have had power restored.
4. 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 – 18 line segments have been re-energized and cleared of vegetation to support restoration efforts.
5. Providing customers with timely updates and sharing estimated restoration times (ETRs) across official LUMA channels – LUMA has completed 24 total meetings with municipal leaders and 705 contacts with mayors since activating its emergency response, continues to share updates with customers, hosts daily regional meetings with mayors, and today announced the global and regional estimated restoration times for 90% customers affected by Tropical Storm Ernesto.

 

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.