EIA: Puerto Rico bears 27 hours of annual outages even without hurricanes
Puerto Rico’s power grid ranks among the least reliable in the United States, with customers losing an average of 27 hours of service annually from 2021 to 2024 — excluding major events such as hurricanes.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration said customers in the mainland U.S. typically see about two hours of outages per year without major events.
When severe weather is included, outages increase sharply. In 2024, Puerto Rico customers averaged more than 73 hours without electricity, with 43 hours tied to major events like Hurricane Ernesto, which affected at least 1 million customers in August.
Two years earlier, Hurricane Fiona left all 1.5 million customers without power, driving the 2022 annual average to nearly 200 hours.
Service interruptions are also more frequent. In 2024, customers experienced 19 outages on average — 14 unrelated to major events and five tied to them — compared with 1.3 outages for mainland customers in 2023, including major event days.
The agency said outages are caused by weaknesses in the transmission and distribution system, limited generating capacity and fuel supply risks. About half of Puerto Rico’s capacity comes from 10 petroleum-, gas- or coal-fueled generators, so a single unplanned outage can undermine reliability. Vegetation near power lines is another frequent cause.
The figures come from preliminary 2024 data in the Annual Electric Power Industry Report, to be finalized in October.
