Hello from Carolina, Puerto Rico!
I thought I would give you a quick update on the power situation here in Puerto Rico. As of today, we have 84.6% power generation on the island. The most difficult part of restoring power is now underway — this is in the mountain area of the island. Drones are being used to restore power, because the roads in that area are small and dangerous. LINK
I commend the hard working people working to restore power. They take pride in their work. There have been many US states who have sent crews to us to restore the power grid.
However, the power company iself (government-run) is in a difficult situation. They have no money and are billions in debt. Recently, the power company received approval of a $300 million loan just to keep running. LINK
There are plans to privitize the power company, which has overwhelming approval from the people here. LINK
There are many questions of how this will be done. One question often asked is: who will assume the billions of dollars in debt from the company ? The government or the new company ?
We have come a long way from Hurricane Maria, and we have a long way to go. But the people are hopeful even though the future is unclear at this point. As one friend told me, “Puerto Rico’s future depends on keeping the lights on”.