Electricity restored to 75 percent of customers in Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico power workers

PUERTO RICO -

Nearly six months after Hurricane Maria decimated Puerto Rico, the island's electricity has been restored to 75 percent capacity, according to its utility company.

The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority said Sunday that 75.35 percent of customers now have electricity. It added that 90.8 percent of the electrical grid, already anemic even before the Sept. 20 storm barrelled through the island, is generating power again.

Thousands of power restoration personnel made up of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), industry workers from the mainland, and the Army Corps of Engineers have made marked progress in recent weeks.

Despite this, 65 people in shelters and an island-wide boil water advisory is still in effect even though almost 100 percent of Puerto Ricans have access to drinking water, local government records show.

The issue of power became controversial after Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello recently announced plans to privatize PREPA after it chose to allocate a $300 million power restoration contract to Whitefish, a Montana-based company with only a few staffers, rather than put it through the mutual-aid network of public utilities usually called upon to coordinate power restoration after major disasters.

That contract was nixed and Whitefish stopped working in Puerto Rico after FEMA raised "significant concerns" over the procurement process.

Related News

solar panels

Californians Learning That Solar Panels Don't Work in Blackouts

SAN FRANCISCO - Californians have embraced rooftop solar panels more than anyone in the U.S., but many are learning the hard way the systems won’t keep the lights on during blackouts.

That’s because most panels are designed to supply power to the grid -- not directly to houses. During the heat of the day, solar systems can crank out more juice than a home can handle. Conversely, they don’t produce power at all at night. So systems are tied into the grid, and the vast majority aren’t working this week as PG&E Corp. cuts power to much of Northern California to…

READ MORE
ESCC logo

The Power Sector’s Most Crucial COVID-19 Mitigation Strategies

READ MORE

Advocates call for change after $2.9 million surplus revealed for BC Hydro fund

READ MORE

nuclear reactors at Hinkley Point in Somerset

Hinkley C nuclear reactor roof lifted into place

READ MORE

houston substation

Electric Cooperatives, The Lone Shining Utility Star Of The Texas 2021 Winter Storm

READ MORE