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The Electric Company of Havana (EELH) announced this Tuesday that it has restored service to 131 distribution circuits in the capital, benefiting 396,447 customers with a capacity of 269.6 MW.
The figure represents just 46% of the city, following the total collapse of the National Electroenergetic System (SEN) that occurred on Monday afternoon.
The official statement from the EELH warns that the restoration is progressing “gradually as the conditions of the SEN permit,” without providing specific timelines for total recovery.
The EELH indicated that citizens can communicate through the Telephone Assistance Center (18888) or the Command Post set up for the emergency, using the numbers 76463282 to 76463286.
The seventh nationwide blackout in 18 months
The collapse on Monday is the seventh total blackout of the National Electric System in the last 18 months and the third in 2026, as confirmed by the Electric Union. The immediate technical cause was the shutdown of Unit No. 6 of the Nuevitas thermoelectric power plant in Camagüey, which triggered a cascading disconnection. That day, the system had barely 1,000 MW available against a demand of 3,100 MW.
The director of the National Cargo Office, Félix Estrada Rodríguez, confirmed that the restoration began in Jaruco, Artemisa, supported by the Energy Storage System, and extended to form an interconnected corridor from Mariel to Sancti Spíritus. "Today, the most important thing is to get the Céspedes units up and running to ensure the continued restoration of the system," the official stated.
The Minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy, announced on social media platform X that the priority is to move eastward.
"With the electrical system connected from Havana to Sancti Spíritus and the startup of the units at the 'Céspedes' CTE underway, our priority is to reach Felton and continue," he wrote.
Havana: 46% restored, 54% in darkness
While the EELH reports progress figures, the reality in Havana's neighborhoods tells a different story. Citizens from various municipalities report areas with more than 40 consecutive hours without electricity, combined with days without access to drinking water.
"Guanabo has been without power for 41 hours and without water for a week. How long will the abuse last?" a neighbor reported in the comments of the official statement. From La Lisa, another resident described their municipality as a deserted place: "La Lisa is a ghost town; it has been days without electricity and water."
The complaints also point to a distribution perceived as arbitrary. "The UNE provides electricity to whomever it wants," wrote a citizen.
Another summarized the situation bitterly: “It’s an eternal blackout, before the SEN, with the SEN, and without the SEN.”
There are also reports of cases where the service was restored and then removed without explanation.
Structural crisis with no solution in sight
The backdrop of this emergency is not incidental. Cuba has gone over three months without receiving shipments of oil, and 106 distributed generation plants remain idle due to a lack of diesel, which represents 890 MW unavailable. The Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant has experienced 17 outages so far in 2026 and has not received capital maintenance since 2010.
This crisis has overwhelmed the patience of the citizens. Since July 1, potbanging and protests have erupted in multiple neighborhoods of Havana such as El Cerro, La Lisa, Regla, and Marianao, met with police operations and internet shutdowns.
The EELH indicated that citizens can communicate through the Telephone Attention Center (18888) or the Command Post set up for the emergency, using the numbers 76463282 to 76463286. However, the regime has not provided any timelines for recovery or structural solutions, while its own citizens bluntly sum it up: "We are completely abandoned, there isn't even water."
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