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The energy crisis in Cuba reached a new level of severity on Wednesday following an unusual public warning from the Electric Company of Granma, which acknowledged that the country is generating less than 1,000 megawatts (MW), only about one-third of the nearly 3,000 MW required to meet national demand.
The statement, signed by the acting director of the entity, Engineer Osvany Núñez Peña, described a critical scenario that continues to deteriorate. "The situation has been and continues to be very complex. Today, the national forecast indicates an impact of 1,650 MW at noon, which could exceed 2,000 MW during peak nighttime hours," he noted.
In Granma, the consequences of this deficit have resulted in extreme duration blackouts. At the time the notice was issued, circuit 4117, which supplies electricity to areas such as San Francisco, Calicito, Campechuela, Ceiba Hueca, and San Ramón, had accumulated more than 45 consecutive hours without service. Other circuits in the province reported interruptions ranging from 43 to 44 hours.
The company also acknowledged that, due to the shortage of available generation, its efforts were focused solely on ensuring supply to the five provincial hospitals and certain water supply systems, while the rest of the population remained subjected to prolonged power outages.
The deterioration of the network has also begun to cause damage to the infrastructure. According to the entity, the number of service outages has increased the failures of transformers and substations, resulting in at least 14 damaged transformers in the province.
The situation worsened on Tuesday afternoon when, at 2:58 p.m., the Electric Company reported that all of Granma was disconnected from the National Electroenergy System due to an emergency.
Just under an hour later, at 3:56 p.m., the state broadcaster CMKX Radio Bayamo reported the province's reconnection to the system. However, the restoration was minimal: only 9 MW were being supplied, and only six circuits had electricity: Circuit 1, Circuit 2, Santa Rita, Monjará, Jiguaní Desarrollo, and Entronque de Guisa.
The weather conditions didn't help either. The cloud cover and rain limited the production of the photovoltaic solar parks in the province, forcing the authorities to synchronize only two of them to avoid frequency fluctuations that could trigger a major failure in the national system.
Meanwhile, the discomfort among the population continues to grow. In recent days, many residents have turned to social media to report the consequences of the prolonged blackouts. A neighbor from Bayamo warned that the Jimmy Hirzel circuit had already been without electricity for over 24 hours. Another resident from the Conil and Bellavista areas described a desperate situation: "We have no water, the little food we have is spoiling due to lack of refrigeration. They are destroying the population," he wrote on June 7th.
The Cuban electricity crisis has deepened steadily throughout 2025 and 2026, amidst the deterioration of thermal power plants and constant breakdowns of generating units. On May 14, the country recorded a record deficit of 2,174 MW, a figure that simultaneously left about 70% of the population without electrical service.
In the midst of this situation, the only possibility of relief mentioned by the authorities was the potential incorporation of the Antonio Guiteras power plant, the country's main facility. The plant remains out of service due to leaks in the boiler and is currently undergoing its fourteenth outage this year. Although technicians were considering attempting to restart it during the early hours, the company itself acknowledged that there were no guarantees of success.
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