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Puerto Ricans protest record-high electricity costs Billions have been invested in Puerto Rico's troubled electrical grid. Despite privatization, the blackouts continue. Protestors say they pay some of the highest electricity prices in the 50 states.
Energy October 30, 2026 5:47 PM ET Puerto Rico Electricity Transcript Download Embed < iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-6016803/nx-s1-9986127" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript Billions have been invested in Puerto Rico's troubled electrical grid. Despite privatization, the blackouts continue. Protestors say they pay some of the highest electricity prices in the 50 states.
Transcript JUANA SUMMERS, HOST: In Puerto Rico, the cost of electricity keeps rising. Customers in the U.S. territory now pay almost twice as much as what people in the 50 states pay on average. NPR's Adrian Florido was in the capital, San Juan, and he has our story.
ADRIAN FLORIDO, BYLINE: A couple of hundred people marched outside the offices of the island's electric utility last week. UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Non-English language spoken). FLORIDO: "There are people deciding whether to pay the light bill or buy a plate of food," this protester shouted to the crowd.
Yahaira Velez couldn't believe her power bill this month. YAHAIRA VELEZ: I used to pay 300 in my house. Now I pay 500.
Last month to this month - it's crazy. FLORIDO: It's meant less time with her family because she has to work long hours selling shish kebabs from a food truck. VELEZ: Because everything - we can just save money or pay the bills.
We're just trying to survive. FLORIDO: Puerto Ricans already pay among the highest rate for electricity in the US. This month it went up almost 20%, reaching a record high on an island where 40% of people live in poverty.
Public anger has swelled so much that Janisse Quinones, who runs LUMA Energy, the private company that operates the power lines, posted a video defending the company. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) JANISSE QUINONES: (Non-English language spoken). FLORIDO: "Electricity is expensive because oil is expensive," she said. "Our job is to deliver the electricity.
Another company generates it." This kind of finger pointing has become common as Puerto Rico's electricity problems have persisted. After Hurricane Maria leveled the power grid in 2017, federally appointed overseers directed island officials to privatize it. They did.
The companies that took it over were supposed to use billions in federal hurricane reconstruction grants to upgrade it. But years later, power outages are still a constant fact of life. Governor Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon has publicly accused LUMA of failing to deliver.
But many people, like protester Valeria Droz, also blamed the governor and her party. VALERIA DROZ: This one party that has been decades in power - instead of trying to invest in renewable energy, they privatized the entire electric grid and did not try to, as a government, stabilize the public electric organization before. FLORIDO: Droz says her power bill has more than doubled in recent months.
She has a good job that's allowed her to keep up with the rising cost, but she despairs that so many young people, including some of her friends, have had to leave Puerto Rico because they can no longer afford to live on the island. Adrian Florido, NPR News, San Juan, Puerto Rico. (SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Copyright © 2026 NPR. All rights reserved.
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