Outage record: Puerto Ricans spent over 28 hours without power in the last fiscal year

Puerto Rico closed fiscal year 2025-2026 with a record nobody wanted: LUMA Energy customers went an average of more than 28 hours without electricity, an 8% increase over the previous year ¹. It is the second consecutive fiscal year to break the outage record, and part of an alarming trend: over the last three years, blackout hours have surged 30% ¹.

The figure, reported by El Nuevo Día, arrived while the island was enduring an active crisis week. On Monday, July 21, the abrupt shutdown of Unit 6 at the San Juan Central plant — operated by Genera PR — left 129,727 customers without service through load shedding ². The hardest-hit areas were San Juan (43,493 customers), Bayamón (39,666), Ponce (15,518), and Caguas (13,076) ².

That blackout was no isolated event. Since July 16, the electrical system had been dragging a 400-megawatt generation deficit due to failures in multiple units: Unit 5 and Unit 6 at Costa Sur, Unit 4 at Palo Seco, and Unit 7 at San Juan ³. At its worst, more than 240,000 customers were simultaneously in the dark ³.

On Wednesday, July 23, Costa Sur's Unit 5 was reactivated, and by 6:00 a.m. Thursday it was generating 263.8 megawatts of its optimal 300-plus MW capacity ³. But Costa Sur's Unit 6 — which suffered additional damage during a restart attempt on July 17 — will remain offline for approximately two more weeks ³.

Energy director Josué Colón called the failures "potentially preventable generalized operational deficiencies" and demanded Genera PR deliver a preliminary root-cause analysis within three business days ⁴. Genera PR, which operates roughly 60% of Puerto Rico's electrical generation, responded on Friday the 25th that the system has 3,257 megawatts available against a projected demand of 2,828 MW ⁵. However, Unit 2 at the Aguirre Central was still running at a limited 180 MW capacity due to condenser circulation pump repairs ⁵.

The annual record surprises no one tracking the system's decline. The fiscal year 2024-2025 mark was surpassed before the current period's first 11 months were even complete ¹. And as aging power plants keep failing under the demands of Puerto Rico's summer heat, load shedding has become a routine tool rather than an emergency measure.

What this means for you

Every hour of blackout means spoiled food in refrigerators, medical equipment going dark, businesses losing revenue, and families enduring the heat without air conditioning. An average of 28 hours per year means many households — especially in areas with more vulnerable infrastructure — faced far longer interruptions. If you depend on the power grid for medical equipment, remote work, or home security, planning ahead is no longer optional.

How to prepare / Checklist

1. Review your LUMA bill to confirm you are not being charged for service during documented interruption hours — you can claim credits for prolonged outages through LUMA's portal or by calling 1-844-888-LUMA.
2. Invest in a portable battery station of at least 500 Wh to keep medical devices, phones, and a fan running during load shedding. Reliable models start at around $300.
3. Freeze water bottles in your freezer — they serve as backup cooling when the power goes out and provide cold drinking water as they melt.
4. Log every outage with the date, time, and duration in a notebook or app. This documentation is essential if you need to file a formal complaint with Puerto Rico's Energy Bureau (NEPR).
5. Evaluate rooftop solar with battery storage options. The commonwealth tax credit covers up to 40% of installation costs, and every kilowatt you generate on your roof is one less that depends on failing power plants.
6. Subscribe to LUMA Energy alerts at lumapr.com or through their mobile app to receive advance notice of scheduled load shedding in your area.

What comes next

Costa Sur's Unit 6 will not return until early August, and the summer heat peak keeps daily electrical demand above 2,800 MW. Genera PR faces government pressure to explain why failures keep recurring during the high-demand season, and any additional unit trips could trigger new rounds of load shedding. The NEPR will need to assess whether the record outage metrics warrant contractual penalties against LUMA Energy, whose 15-year contract depends precisely on improving system reliability — something that, for the second consecutive year, is not happening.

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Sources ¹ El Nuevo Día ² El Nuevo Día ³ El Nuevo Día ⁴ El Nuevo Día ⁵ Metro Puerto Rico