[1][2] Previously, these duties belonged exclusively (according to the law) to the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA, Spanish Autoridad de Energía Eléctrica, AEE), but as of July 20, 2018, permission was granted for PREPA assets and service duties to be sold to private companies, and on June 22, 2020, a 15-year contract[2][3] with LUMA was signed, making LUMA the new operator.

A joint venture between Quanta Services (USA) and ATCO (Canada), LUMA was created to manage Puerto Rico’s power grid.

The company attributed the issues to excessive traffic, later citing a suspected DDoS attack that generated up to 2 million visits per second.

[9][8] Following LUMA’s takeover, Puerto Rico experienced widespread power outages, prompting emergency declarations by multiple mayors.

Reports indicate that in June 2021, outages affected up to 1 million customers, including 40,000 who lost water service after the Monacillos fire.

[12] Hours prior to the incident, LUMA Energy had stated it would be selectively shutting down systems to give them maintenance and due to insufficient power generation capacity, but that this sudden outage was unrelated and not intentional.

[14] The power outage crisis caused one of the island's major shopping centers, Plaza del Caribe in Ponce, to close on June 22, 2021, due to a blackout.

[15][16] On June 10, 2021, a transformer explosion at Monacillos Substation triggered a fire, causing power outages across Puerto Rico.

[6][8] On June 12, 2021, as indicated via a tweet by David Begnaud (CBS) and confirmed via press conference by Secretary of Public Safety of Puerto Rico Alexis Torres,[22] preliminary investigation suggested the fire was due to an accident and not foul play.

Authorities did not confirm or deny these reports, however, and at the time very little information about the investigation was publicly available "due to FBI policy.".

[24] On June 30, 2021, Secretary of Public Safety of Puerto Rico, Alexis Torres, informed that the investigation of the Monacillos fire had determined the cause was accidental.

[25] On June 1, 2022, LUMA Energy completed its first year of operations in Puerto Rico, reporting changes in customer service, reliability, and progress on FEMA-funded projects.

[26] In November 2023, it hosted the IEEE Power and Energy Society conference in San Juan, the first time the event was held in Puerto Rico.

[27] In February 2025, LUMA announced plans to add nearly 1 GW of renewable energy and over 700 MW of storage, attracting $4 billion in private investment.

[7][31] UTIER lawyer and legal representative Rolando Emmanuelli Jiménez stated, at the time that the contract was made public, that "its reach far extends beyond that which Fortaleza has led the nation to believe.

[2][32] Emmanuelli Jiménez also noted that the contract allows LUMA Energy to dissolve the agreement for a variety of reasons, as long as a 120-day notice is provided before the effective date, which he deems too short a time.

[32] Among the possible reasons for contract dissolution are included: natural disasters, war and armed conflict, sabotage (both online and offline), civil disobedience, epidemics, insurrection, and acts of terror.

The approval of this request would have meant the company would not be held liable legally in the event of damages, including death, due to negligence or willful ill-intent.

[24] When questioned by the press, LUMA Energy president Wayne Stensby claimed the request for limitation of liability was submitted with the intent of preventing customers from having to assume additional costs, and not for the company's own protection.

[47][48] In the legal action, LUMA requested UTIER "cease and desist any acts of intimidation, violence, vandalism, or that impedes the use of property or disturbs the senses in violation of constitutional rights.

In response, a court order was emitted on June 4, 2021, stating that for the next 10 days, UTIER protestors could not "block access to facilities used by LUMA Energy to provide electrical service on the island", with the caveat that the right to freedom of speech not be limited.

[49] On June 18, 2021, superior court judge Alfonso S. Martínez Piovanetti closed the case due to "insufficient evidence" and "no-longer existing controversy.

[3][4][8] LUMA Energy representative, José Pérez, spoke on the radio soon after the complaints began to say that the power outages could potentially be a result of sabotage.

[12] The state of emergency designation allows mayors to use available funding to repair the power grid and hire private contractors as-needed.

[72] He requested that governor Pedro Pierluisi, who had previously asked people to "give LUMA some time",[73] and the Public-Private Partnership Authority (Spanish: Autoridad de Alianzas Público-Privadas, AAPP) set a 30-day deadline for LUMA to correct deficiencies that, according to Torres, result in a breach of contract, and to cancel the contract if this issue is not resolved.

[37][59] On June 14, 2021, LUMA Energy confirmed via press release that UITICE (Insular Union of Industrial Workers and Electrical Constructions, Spanish: Unión Insular de Trabajadores Industriales y Construcciones Eléctricas) would exclusively be the new trade union representing LUMA electricity workers.

"[78] Figueroa Jaramillo expressed concerns over whether or not this could mean that UITICE would be unable to properly oversee LUMA Energy and protect workers' rights due to potential conflict of interest with the company.

[78] He also reassured workers that UTIER "is still alive and will be creating an organization to group former AEE employees that have moved to other agencies", and that they plan to keep fighting the LUMA contract "that would raise energy rates and provide no power grid improvements, as demonstrated.