Days after the passage of tropical storm Ernesto, of the 98,563 clients of the consortium LUMA Energy –in charge of operating the transmission and distribution system of the electrical grid–, continue without electricity service in Puerto Rico.
Data updated at 6:55 pm this Saturday by the consortium shows that 6.71% still did not have service.
The most affected region is Carolina, with 33,839 customers without service, followed by the Caguas area, with 17,835, and then Mayagüez, with 16,910. However, the least affected region is San Juan, with 1,811 subscribers without electricity.
LUMA announced on Saturday that it has restored service to more than 623,000 customers who had been left without power due to Tropical Storm Ernesto. According to the consortium, More than 90% of customers have electricity, exceeding by one day the company’s goal of restoring service on Sunday.
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As of 5:00 a.m. on Saturday, more than 1.3 million customers across Puerto Rico had electric service.
According to the consortium, “it continues to make progress in repairing the system and restoring service to 110,000 customers who remain without electricity in the most affected areas of central and eastern Puerto Rico. Within 72 hours of the storm, LUMA was able to restore power to 92% of affected customers, achieving this goal in less than four days.”
In a press release issued this Saturday, Juan SacaPresident and CEO of LUMA, indicated that “our crews have worked hard, often under difficult conditions, to achieve our global ETR (estimated restoration time) ahead of schedule.”
“Although we achieved this goal, our crews remain focused on restoring electrical service to customers who remain without service in the regions of Caguas, Carolina, Mayagüez and Ponce. These regions were the most affected by Tropical Storm Ernesto,” Saca said.
“We will work day and night and will not rest until all of our customers have service. In this restoration phase, we want to thank our local, federal and municipal collaborators. We also thank our customers for their support and commitment to Puerto Rico,” he said.
The consortium urged customers to call in if they experience service interruptions while they work to restore power to the remaining 10 percent.
1 / 21 | PHOTOS: Flooding in Toa Baja and Dorado due to Ernesto. Flooding in the La Plata River in Toa Baja. – Alejandro Granadillo
1,500 aerial assessments completed
LUMA reported that it recently completed over 1,500 aerial and ground assessments to determine the extent of damage to the system.
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Based on these inspections, LUMA published the estimated times to restore service to 90% of customers in each service region, shown below.
“Due to the various effects of Tropical Storm Ernesto, it should be noted that the central and eastern areas of the island could experience variations in the estimated times,” the consortium warned in the press release.
Customers report places without electricity
On the other hand, users on social networks have resorted to a publication of The New Day in Facebook to denounce the communities that continue without electricity throughout the island, including the Buenaventura sector, on highway PR-857, in Carolina, which has been without service since Tuesday.
Added to this are the Quebrada neighborhood, on highway PR-931, in the Bezares sector, in San Lorenzo; Lomas Verdes in Bayamón; Buenavista neighborhood, Los Acosta sector, in Humacao; Villa Las Brisas, Río Mar, in Río Grande; Marina 1 in Humacao; Boquerón in Cabo Rojo; Paso Palmas neighborhood, in Utuado, among other places.
Meanwhile, the mayor of Cayey, Rolando Ortiz Velazquezsaid that as of Saturday morning, there were about 15 of the 22 neighborhoods in his municipality without electricity service, or intermittent service.
“We can’t take it anymore. The reality is that the atmospheric event last Tuesday and Wednesday did not cause serious damage, and already today, Saturday, communities are questioning how it is that we still have large sectors without electricity,” he said.
Ortiz Velázquez added that “there are already talks among community leaders to hold public demonstrations. Some say that with the same effectiveness that LUMA generates, we must re-energize with the same urgency.”
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Following the passage of storm Ernesto, a fire was reported on Thursday night at the La Cerámica electrical substation, located on the edge of the Expresso Román Baldorioty de Castrocaused thousands of customers to be left without electricity.
In addition, a breakdown on transmission line 36,800, which runs from the Sabana Llana substation in Carolina to Caguas, left some 70,000 subscribers in the dark. However, service has since been restored, according to the consortium.
Added to this is the fact that, as recently as last Friday, unit #2 of the Aguirre plant in Salinas went out of service unexpectedly, causing more than 100,000 customers temporarily lost power.
