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The disconnection of the electrical system in western Cuba left the capital completely in the dark, without electricity in any of its blocks and with growing uncertainty about the causes of the incident, which is still under investigation.
"Early this morning, a disconnection occurred in the National Electroenergetic System (SEN) affecting the western part of the country, impacting several provinces from Cienfuegos to Pinar del Río, resulting in a general outage in the City; there is NO electricity service. The Electric Union (UNE) is investigating the causes to restore service as soon as possible," stated the Electric Company of Havana on its social media this morning.
At the time of writing this note, the causes behind the service interruption in western Cuba are still unknown. The Electric Company of the capital urged the public to stay informed through the official channels on Telegram, WhatsApp, ToDus, and the platforms of X and Facebook, as well as through the Call Center 18888.
In an update on the situation, the official journalist Lázaro Manuel Alonso indicated on his that the Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant was online, without specifying whether the plant had previously been disconnected from the SEN.
He also noted that the service was being gradually restored and that, at the moment, the provinces of Pinar del Río, Artemisa, La Habana, and Mayabeque are without electrical service.
For its part, in its latest update (7:00 PM Cuban time), the UNE reported this Tuesday that the national electrical system (SEN) had a capacity of 1,389 megawatts (MW) for a demand of 3,329 MW, estimating the shortfall caused by this deficit at 1,972 MW.
Furthermore, the company led by Alfredo López Valdés reported that unit 6 of the thermal power plant (CTE) in Diez de Octubre (Nuevitas) and unit 3 of the CTE Antonio Maceo (Rente) had synchronized this Tuesday at 3:45 PM and 5:07 PM, respectively.
The trend in recent days indicates a worsening of power outages in the country. On Monday, the SEN reported a generation deficit of over 2,000 megawatts (MW). Throughout the day, the electric service was affected for 24 hours, with a peak impact of 2,105 MW at 7:00 PM.
In Havana, the Electric Company has been informing users for weeks about daily disruptions that require the interruption of the planned schedule due to the low availability of the system.
In mid-September, Cuba experienced its fifth nationwide blackout in less than a year, a figure that starkly reflects the fragility of the national electric grid and the regime's inability to resolve a crisis that impacts the daily lives of millions of people.
Days earlier, a massive failure of the National Electric System (SEN) had caused a general blackout in Eastern Cuba, leaving several provinces in the region without electrical service and also affecting the western part of the country, particularly unit 6 of the Mariel thermoelectric plant, when the 220 kV Nuevitas-Tunas line tripped, completely disconnecting the system from Las Tunas to Guantánamo.
According to Alonso's report, the disconnection was caused by "adverse weather conditions" and very low generation in the eastern region at the time of the event.
At the end of October, following the passage of Hurricane Melissa, the Cuban electrical system once again fell into a precarious state, leading to the disconnection of the eastern region and widespread blackouts throughout the country.
As November began, the electrical service started to be restored slowly and gradually in the eastern part of the country, reaching 50% of service by the end of the first week, while the national deficit continued to increase.
This conjunction created a new imbalance: while the eastern provinces gradually regained their connection to the SEN, those in the central and western regions endured longer and more frequent outages, once again highlighting the structural fragility of the system.
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