Hundreds of people marched in Puerto Rico's capital San Juan to demand that the island's government cancel its contract with power grid operator LUMA Energy over chronic power outages and frequent rate hikes, Reuters reported. Demonstrators including union leaders and community activists say LUMA has steadily increased power rates despite frequent outages, including one in April that left more than a third of the island in darkness. Protestors shouted slogans including, "There goes LUMA, there goes LUMA with another increase," and "LUMA, a bunch of morons who burn substations." Power rates have gone up five times since LUMA began operating Puerto Rico's transmission and distribution system on June 1, 2020. The last rate hike, which took effect at the start of July, pushed rates up by 17.1%. Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico in 2017, decimating a power grid that was already struggling from low maintenance and poor collection of power bills.
