Extended power outage affecting Puerto Rico angers and worries many people as heat advisories are given

COAMO, Puerto Rico – Cities in central and southern Puerto Rico are struggling to recover from a prolonged power outage that forced authorities in the U.S. territory to activate an emergency response team on Monday and request food distribution to those in need.

The outage occurred more than a week ago, leaving tens of thousands of customers without power after a transformer collapsed that had reached twice its service life.

Officials with Luma Energy, which transmits and distributes power for Puerto Rican authorities, say repairs could take more than a month. The announcement sparked widespread anger, especially as the outage disrupted water supplies and came amid daily warnings of excessive heat as the Atlantic hurricane season begins.

Some politicians demand that Governor Pedro Pierluisi declare a state of emergency.

“The people of Santa Isabel, Coamo and Aibonito cannot endure another day without electricity,” Puerto Rican Sen. Héctor Santiago Torres said Monday, referring to towns in the central and southern regions of the Caribbean island. “This situation is unsustainable.”

More than 40% of Puerto Rico’s 3.2 million people live below the poverty line, and not everyone can afford generators or replacing expensive electrical appliances damaged by outages.

“My fridge broke down because of a voltage problem, so I had to throw out all the spoiled food,” said Carmen Franco, 68, speaking above the roar of generators in the southern city of Coamo, where she joined dozens of people waiting for a free lunch on Saturday.

Authorities transformed the music school into a huge kitchen where people cooked rice and chicken, delivering hundreds of lunches to hard-to-reach places in a city where almost a fifth of the population is over 65.

“Without a doubt, we are not prepared for this,” Coamo Mayor Juan Carlos García Padilla said of the ongoing power outages. He told the Associated Press that residents are already struggling with the high cost of living. “They have nothing left to save.”

One resident, 51-year-old Carlos Ávila, said he had difficulty contacting his cardiologist over the weekend to send a prescription to the pharmacy because phone lines were down due to power outages: “I waited over a week to get my prescription my blood pressure prescription was refilled.”

Chronic power outages have plagued Puerto Rico since Hurricane María struck as a Category 4 storm in September 2017, leveling the island’s already fragile power grid. However, the latest outage lasted longer than most.

Puerto Rico relies on power plants that use coal, oil and natural gas to generate about 97% of the island’s electricity, and efforts to transition to renewable energy are progressing slowly.

Additionally, the federal control board that oversees the island’s finances has questioned a net metering policy that compensates solar households for their contributions to the grid, arguing it undermines the independence of energy regulators. Solar energy advocates warn that the challenge could hinder the adoption of rooftop solar and battery systems, especially for low-income communities, threatening the island’s progress toward renewable energy goals.

No order has been made on the legal challenge.

Madelyn Vives, a 52-year-old caregiver and mother of two, said the outages hit Puerto Rico’s older population the hardest. Her father, who cannot walk, lives in a house where she comes more often to bring him food.

“I try to eat as many lunches as possible to feed my family, but if I get even one, it goes to my father,” she said.