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The Electric Company of Havana announced on Thursday that it will cease managing blackouts using the block system and will instead manage them by electric circuits, a change that, as the entity itself acknowledged, had to be expedited following the recent collapse of the National Electric Power System (SEN).
In an informative note, the company explained that the new model was initially planned to be implemented gradually, but the energy crisis forced an expedited rollout.
"This new method was initially intended to be implemented gradually (...) however, given the emergencies caused by the recent collapse of the National Electric Power System, it was necessary to accelerate its implementation," he noted.
According to the state entity, circuit management will allow for real-time knowledge of service status, outages, breakdowns, and maintenance work, as well as facilitate the consultation of information through its digital platforms.
The decision comes just a few days after the third nationwide blackout of 2026, the seventh total collapse of the SEN in the last 18 months. The massive disconnection, which occurred on July 6th, was caused by the outage of Unit 6 of the Nuevitas thermoelectric plant in Camagüey.
Although the system was reconnected later, the generation deficit continued to worsen. On July 8, the country recorded a historic electricity deficit of 2,341 megawatts, with an availability of just 935 MW against a demand nearing 3,100 MW.
Amid this situation, numerous residents of Havana reported on Thursday power outages lasting 27 to 30 consecutive hours in neighborhoods such as Versalles in La Lisa, Zamora in Marianao, and Cruz Verde in El Cotorro.
"Before, I was Block 1, but now I don't even know what I am anymore; I've been without electricity for over 30 hours," wrote a user identified as Fla in the company's official Telegram channel.
More questions than answers
Far from reassuring users, the announcement raised new doubts.
The post amassed nearly 400 negative reactions, compared to just about thirty positive ones, as well as over a hundred comments in which users complained that the Electric Company did not publish the list of circuits, nor explained how citizens could identify the circuit their home belongs to.
"Days later, after pressure from everyone, including journalists, they decided to do what should have been done from the very beginning," commented the user MP89.
Others expressed fear that the new scheme may end up deepening the differences between certain neighborhoods.
"I am in a circuit that borders another in the middle of the block, and it turns out that they are not experiencing any outages while I have only had two hours of electricity since the SEN failure," reported Jenrry Álvarez Cruz, who stated that the neighboring circuit encompasses several small and medium-sized private businesses.
Without improvements in generation
The announcement coincides with a day when Miguel Díaz-Canel toured several municipalities in Havana to discuss the energy crisis. During his visit, the leader requested to "better organize" the scheduling of blackouts, although he did not announce any measures to increase electricity generation capacity.
Meanwhile, the infrastructure of the system continues to show signs of exhaustion. The Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant, the largest in the country, has gone offline 17 times during 2026, amid a context of fuel shortages and deteriorating generating plants.
The feeling of frustration among many users was summed up in one of the comments posted after the announcement by the Electric Company: "Your apologies don't solve anything at all."
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