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Lights Slowly Come On for Puerto Ricans in Rural Areas (csmonitor.com)
Almost a year after two hurricanes ravaged the US territory, repair crews are working to energize the more than 950 homes and businesses that remain without power in hard-to-reach areas. Puerto Ricans remain fearful that their newly returned normality could be short lived. An anonymous reader shares a report: Lights are slowly coming on for the more than 950 homes and businesses across Puerto Rico that remain without power in hard-to-reach areas. Repair crews sometimes have to dig holes by hand and scale down steep mountainsides to reach damaged light posts. Electrical poles have to be ferried in one-by-one via helicopter. It is slow work, and it has stretched nearly two months past the date when officials had promised that everyone in Puerto Rico would be energized. And even as TVs glow into the night and people like delivery man Steven Vilella once again savor favorite foods like shrimp and Rocky Road ice cream, many fear their newly returned normality could be short-lived. Turmoil at the island's power company and recent winds and rains that knocked out electricity to tens of thousands of people at the start of the new hurricane season have them worried.
This has been a monumental task, not something that can be fixed by just throwing money at it. For example, there are only so many transformers, insulators, poles, etc. in stock, and many many of these had to be replaced. There are still parts that they are taking a long time to source. So much of the infrastructure had been ignored by the power company and Puerto Rico’s governement that most of it has to be replaced. Even if it was a state, it’s the state’s responsibility to manage local utilities.
Add in the rugged territory (as mentioned in TFA), and it’s just plain slow going.