Puerto Rico’s grid recovery needs a public scorecard
Policy evidence · September 2026
Reliable power is an equality issue because an outage interrupts health care, school, water service, and work. A funding announcement is not the same as a finished line or a dependable grid. The U.S. Government Accountability Office reported in July 2026 that progress toward grid stability has been limited despite substantial federal assistance. It described the 2025 islandwide blackout and examined the pace of transmission projects.
What the record shows
GAO found that, as of December 2025, LUMA had submitted 30 transmission projects for FEMA review; FEMA had obligated about $208 million for 18 of them. Seven were more than 75 percent complete, according to the recovery office’s quarterly report cited by GAO. These figures describe project status at that point in time, not completed service improvements for every community.
What advocates should ask
NAPREC supports a public scorecard that names each project, its funding source, approval stage, target completion date, and the service it is meant to restore. Congress should ask agencies to distinguish money allocated, money obligated, construction completed, and reliability actually measured. Statehood is our long-term equality goal; grid accountability is an urgent obligation under the current status too.
Primary source: GAO-26-107772, Puerto Rico Grid Recovery.