A power outage plunged much of Puerto Rico into darkness on New Year’s Eve.

A power outage in Puerto Rico left nearly 1.3 million customers in the dark Tuesday. While the territories of the United States Start preparing to celebrate New Year’s Eve. and as specified by officials It may take up to 2 days for power to be restored.

The Associated Press reported that the power was out in the morning. As a result, the entire island fell into silence. When electrical appliances and air conditioners are cut off Before the generator from someone who has the power to turn on

Luma Energy, a private company that oversees electric transmission and distribution, said nearly 90% of its 1.47 million customers in Puerto Rico were masked.

The company also said the outage was caused by a failure of underground power lines. It was stated that electricity was being restored. “In the fastest and safest way possible.”

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Electrical poles with cables floating above houses in Loisa. Puerto Rico on September 9, 15 Nov. 2022 (AP Photo/Alejandro Granadillo, File)

The outage sparked anger at Luma and Genera PR, the company that oversees energy production in Puerto Rico.

Governor Jennifer Gonzalez Colon, who will be sworn into office on January 1, on September 2 called for the creation of “Energy Tsar” to investigate possible violations of Luma’s contract while meeting other operators

“We cannot rely on an energy system that fails our people,” she wrote on X, adding that stabilizing Puerto Rico’s energy grid will be her top priority in office.

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The current government is also weighing in on the matter, with Pedro Pierluisi saying in a post on X that he is in contact with Luma and Genera PR.

“We can report that work is underway to restore service at the San Juan and Palo Seco plants,” he wrote. “We need answers and solutions from both LUMA and Genera, which will require an accelerated restart of the residential generation unit. Outside the error area and properly inform the public about the measures they are taking to restore services across the island.”

The power outage forced many businesses, parks and shopping malls to close. And the government has announced limited timetables for some departments.

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Business owners turned to generators to keep them operating during island-wide power outages. in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on April 7, 2022. (AP Photo/Carlos Giusti, File)

While power outages are rare in Puerto Rico, power outages are rare. But the island also faces chronic power outages. They blamed it on a broken electrical grid that was severely damaged by Hurricane Maria. which was a Category 4 storm in September 2017

However, by that time the system had already deteriorated after years of neglect in terms of maintenance and investment.

Until recently Crews have begun permanent repairs to Puerto Rico’s electrical grid after Hurricane Maria. The island remains dependent on generators from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to help stabilize the electrical grid.

last month The Puerto Rican government has asked U.S. officials for permission. Keep using more than a dozen portable generators for the next two years.

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Meanwhile Puerto Rico’s electric power utility is struggling to restructure more than $9 billion in debt. It is the island’s largest government agency.

Petroleum-based power plants produce more than 60% of Puerto Rico’s energy. This is followed by natural gas and coal. Solar roofs account for only about 7% of electricity use on the island, which has a poverty rate of more than 40%.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.