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Puerto Rico Power Outages Rise 19% in 2025, EIA Says

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Puerto Rico's electricity customers experienced an average of 36 hours of power interruptions in 2025, excluding major events such as hurricanes, a 19% increase from the previous year, the US Energy Information Administration strategists said in a note on Monday.

EIA analysts said the deterioration underscores the continued reliability challenges facing Puerto Rico's power grid, where customers experienced an average of about 29 hours of outages per year between 2021 and 2025, excluding major events.

The agency said that, by comparison, electricity customers in the US mainland typically experienced about two hours of power interruptions a year without major events, underscoring the greater reliability challenges facing Puerto Rico.

The duration of routine power interruptions in Puerto Rico has increased since 2023. The EIA said that major events added another 23 hours of outages for customers in 2025.

Lindsay Aramayo, an economist at the EIA, said Puerto Rico was not directly hit by a major hurricane in 2025, but severe weather still contributed to outages classified as major events.

Heavy rainfall and flooding in April and May affected the island's electricity infrastructure.

The EIA said that Hurricane Erin, which did not make a direct hit on Puerto Rico, also brought tropical-storm-force winds, landslides and downed trees that disrupted power and other infrastructure.

The agency said that the frequency of outages also deteriorated. Excluding major events, the average number of electricity interruptions experienced by a Puerto Rico customer has doubled since 2021 and rose 13% in 2025 from the previous year.

Customers experienced almost 16 interruptions on average during 2025 when major events were excluded. The EIA said that including major-event days, the figure rose to about 17 interruptions.

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