Thousands remain without power after fire causes widespread outages in Puerto Rico

The energy company that powers Puerto Rico's grid said it expects all customers to have their power restored by Friday evening.

The problem-plagued energy company that powers Puerto Rico's grid said it expects all customers to have their power restored by Friday evening after a fire at a substation Thursday left hundreds of thousands without electricity. As of midday Friday, LUMA Energy reported that just 22,000 customers were without electricity service, a significant improvement compared to Thursday evening when some 700,000 customers remained plunged in darkness. All told, the incident impacted some 900,000 customers on the island, according to LUMA Energy. The company said it expects to reestablish service for all customers by 6 p.m. local time on Friday. A "significant fire and explosion" at the Monacillos electrical substation in the San Juan area occurred just after 6 p.m. local time Thursday, according to a LUMA Energy spokesperson. The company has not disclosed the cause of the explosion, and local authorities have vowed to investigate.