Puerto Rico

Washington Promised Puerto Rico $14 Billion To Fix Its Grid. Most of the Money Is Still Stuck.

A new GAO report attributes the delays to onerous regulations and poor coordination among government agencies.

Jeremiah Alondra | 7.9.2026 12:25 PM

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(National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/Wikimedia Commons)

In 2017, Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico, causing an 11-month blackout in some parts of the island. In the years since, the federal government has allocated billions of dollars to fix the grid. However, only a quarter of this funding has actually reached the island, according to a new government report.  

A federal audit released last week by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) revealed that of the $14 billion obligated for grid repair and modernization in Puerto Rico since 2017, around 75 percent, or $10.7 billion, remains undisbursed. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was the slowest mover of funds identified in the report, with only $2.7 billion of its total $11.1 billion in obligated funds disbursed. According to the GAO, a measly nine FEMA-funded projects have been completed as of December 2025, while 249 are "at different stages of completion."

Approximately half of the island's frequent outages are caused by vegetation growing too close to transmission and distribution lines. Luma Energy, the island's private utility, estimated that clearing vegetation around power lines, substations, and facility access roads would cost $1.2 billion. The utility has submitted funding requests for 34 vegetation-clearing........

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