From the New York Post:
Puerto Rico plunged into darkness after power station fire
A major power outage hit Puerto Rico late Wednesday, plunging nearly 350,000 customers into darkness after a fire erupted at one of the largest power plants in the U.S. territory.
The outage was one of the biggest in recent months for the island’s crumbling electrical grid, which has seen its periodic blackouts grow worse the last few years. The outage elicited a collective groan from people across Puerto Rico as many who depend on insulin or respiratory therapies once again worried about how long it would last.
“Apagón!” wrote many frustrated customers across social media, using the Spanish word for outage.
Beautiful tropic island, wonderful people, lousy government. This is not a new thing:
Another fire at a power plant in September 2016 sparked an island-wide blackout. A year later, Hurricane Maria hit, razing the island’s frail electrical grid and leaving some customers without power for nearly a year. Emergency repairs have since been made, but reconstruction efforts have yet to start.
In addition, Puerto Rico’s Electric Power Authority is trying to emerge from bankruptcy and holds some $9 billion in public debt that it is trying to restructure. The utility has long struggled with mismanagement, corruption and aging infrastructure that has not been maintained.
Got to maintain the infrastructure. Tempting to spend the money on something shiny and public to get attention for the next election cycle but better to keep the lights on.
Leave a comment