“Just when I’m about to cook something, the power goes out. Like other Puerto Ricans, Maysonet has modified her diet, turning to canned goods, snacks and crackers that won't spoil in a power outage. I’m going to have to risk my health just to be able to pay the rest of the bills.”
“It really puts a dent in my paycheck,” she said. She’s hesitant to work at the office because she doesn't want to expose her mother and grandmother to COVID-19. The outages are especially aggravating because power bills have been rising and the pandemic has forced many people to work or study from home.īarbra Maysonet, a 30-year-old call center operator who works from home, said she sometimes loses an entire shift and doesn’t get paid for lack of power. “This has turned into abuse,” she said of the outages. She cooks and washes clothes at irregular hours, fearing the power will go out again.
The heat forces her to open her windows and breathe in pollution that aggravates her asthma. She has been unable to use her nebulizer and recently had to throw out insulin for lack of refrigeration.
Some people have taken to banging pots at night in frustration in addition to organizing protests.Īmong those planning to join is Carmen Cabrer, a 53-year-old asthmatic and diabetic. “We’re not going to stop until the problem is corrected.” “I recognize the critical condition that they’re in,” he said. And investment to replace aging infrastructure has dwindled. Scores of experienced employees have retired. He said three main factors are to blame: Officials halted maintenance of generation units under the erroneous belief they would soon be replaced. “We’re on the verge of a collapse,” said Juan Alicea, a former executive director of the authority. A year later, Hurricane Maria hit as a Category 4 storm, shredding the aging power grid and leaving some customers up to a year without power.Įmergency repairs were done, but reconstruction work to strengthen the grid has yet to start. In September 2016, a fire at a power plant sparked an island-wide blackout. The island’s Electric Power Authority has long struggled with mismanagement, corruption and, more recently, bankruptcy. Puerto Rico’s governor said the company had pledged to reduce power interruptions by 30% and the length of outages by 40%. Luma took over transmission and distribution in June. Luma also has implemented selective blackouts in recent weeks that have affected a majority of its 1.5 million clients, saying demand is exceeding supply.