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The Holguín Electric Company once again requested on Saturday that the public, upon the restoration of electrical service, connect their devices gradually to avoid overloading the network and causing further system outages.
The message, spread under the hashtags #CulturaEléctrica and #NosUNECompromiso, warns that "if all households connect refrigerators, air conditioners, ovens, and other high-consumption equipment at the same time, the grid will overload and another outage may occur."
The call is practically identical to the one the same entity published on June 28, indicating that the problem remains unresolved.
The post sparked a wave of rejection and sarcasm in the comments. "When the power comes back, I'm going to turn on even the electric broom," wrote one citizen.
Another was more direct: "With the little time of electricity they give you, if you go slowly, that's all you'll accomplish."
Several residents of Holguín pointed out the contradiction between the official advice and the reality they face. "So give us the recipe for how to power and have electricity for refrigerators, kitchens, phones, fans, and more in three hours," claimed a user.
Another comment summarized the absurdity with concrete figures: "Today I had 1.45 minutes; if I turn on a device every 15 minutes, I can only turn on six."
"The solution is to have electricity 24/7, that’s normal, don’t you think?" a citizen concluded in the comments, summarizing what the Electric Company does not seem willing to guarantee.
The notice comes at a time of extreme energy crisis. Holguín, the second province in Cuba with the most electric customers—383,180 users—has only 70 MW available compared to a maximum demand of 240 MW, which is less than 30% of what is needed.
Of those 70 MW, 26 are allocated to essential services and about 20 to the nickel industry, leaving only 14 MW for an estimated residential demand of 190 MW.
The practical result is that most residential circuits receive approximately three hours of electricity for over 50 hours of blackout, with documented cases of up to 51 consecutive hours without service in some neighborhoods.
The director general of the entity, Ruber Reynaldo González, acknowledged that the simultaneous reconnection of equipment after such prolonged power outages causes consumption spikes of between 180% and 200%, which leads to transformers burning out due to overheating.
González also admitted that each restoration of a malfunctioning circuit affects between 10 and 20 transformers, while the company can only receive six units to replace 25 damaged ones.
The crisis is worsening in the national context. Cuba experienced its fourth total blackout of the year on Friday, July 10, with only 935 MW available against a demand of 3,100 MW.
This Saturday, the Electric Union (UNE) announced shortly after noon a partial reconnection of the system from Santa Clara to Holguín amidst extreme precariousness.
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