Just ten days after taking over Puerto Rico’s beleaguered power grid, Luma, a private company, scrambled to deal with a fire and a cyberattack on Thursday.
An “explosion” at an electrical substation in San Juan created a blackout that left 700,000 residents without power. Service was eventually restored for some customers, but 1 in 10 residents are still lacking electricity. No injuries were reported.
Gov. Pedro Pierluisi said authorities are investigating the incident. “Whoever is responsible for it will have to answer to the People of Puerto Rico,” he added.
Earlier in the day, Luma announced that a cyberattack prevented customers from accessing their accounts online. It is unclear if the two events are connected.
The Associated Press explains that Luma’s takeover of the grid has caused frustration as many residents have waited hours on the phone to report service disruptions:
Many in Puerto Rico had hoped for a quick improvement in service, but clients complain it has gotten even worse in Luma’s first few days of operations – with problems complicated by heavy rains this week followed by the explosion.
“This has turned into chaos,” said Javier Jiménez, mayor of the western town of San Sebastián, which had established its own brigade of workers to make repairs after Hurricane Maria largely destroyed the U.S. territory’s electrical grid in 2017, leaving some people without electricity for nearly a year.
