Several municipalities in the provinces of Santiago de Cuba and Guantánamo lost electricity on Sunday night, according to a statement from the Electric Company published on social media.
"Dear customers, we would like to inform you that the province of Santiago de Cuba is currently without electricity from the national power grid," states the message shared on Telegram, without providing details about the cause of the blackout or an estimated time for the restoration of service.
"The causes are being investigated; we will provide more information later," the company stated.
Official broadcaster José Yaser Centray Soler reported on Facebook that the outage occurred on the 110 kV line in Renté.
"A failure in the 110 kV line in Renté has caused a power outage in Santiago de Cuba, San Luis, and the entire province of Guantánamo. Efforts are underway to restore the electricity," he stated.
The announcer also indicated in another post that "prioritized circuits in the province are being restored. They are working on reestablishing electrical service to other circuits."
Beatriz Johnson Urrutia, the first secretary of the Party in the province of Santiago de Cuba, reported on Facebook that the outage affected several municipalities.
"A fault in the 110 kV line in Renté has left the municipalities of Santiago de Cuba, San Luis, and the province of Guantánamo without electricity," he noted.
"Specialists are working to restore the service," Johnson stated.
Various social media profiles, including that of journalist Yosmany Mayeta, reported the collapse of the electricity system in Santiago de Cuba.
"I've been informed of a blackout in almost all of Santiago de Cuba. I'd like to know if Santiago de Cuba is serving a penance or if it is saving electricity for the whole country," remarked the social communicator.
For the umpteenth time in recent months, Cuba's Electric Union (UNE) exceeded the forecast for blackouts for the day. 1,481 MW were expected, but the affected power amounted to 1,548 MW due to a shortfall in generation capacity.
December has not started well in terms of energy in Cuba, as today eight thermal power units remain out of service, and during peak hours, power outages of 1,436 MW are expected, which, as often happens, is likely to be even higher.
Recently, the Cuban government established a "special electricity contingency regime" that includes planned and sustained blackouts lasting more than 72 hours in the event that the National Electroenergetic System (SEN) is unable to meet the country's electricity demand.
With the publication this Tuesday in the Official Gazette of Decree 110, the government of Miguel Díaz-Canel formalizes a kind of "state of exception" that, similar to the "states of alert, exception, and siege" commonly found in the constitutions of many countries around the world, grants exceptional powers to the authorities to address extraordinary and serious situations.
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