Overview

• Puerto Rico experienced an island-wide blackout on Wednesday, leaving all 1.4 million customers without electricity during Easter preparations.
• At least 78,000 residents are also without water, with full power restoration expected to take 48–72 hours, according to officials.
• A midday transmission disturbance during a vulnerable period for the grid is under investigation as the likely cause of the outage.
• Residents have renewed calls for the cancellation of contracts with private grid operators Luma Energy and Genera PR, citing chronic outages since Hurricane Maria in 2017.
• The White House has offered assistance, while the blackout disrupts daily life, forcing business closures, transit interruptions, and event cancellations across the island.