A malfunction at the Agramonte substation left the municipalities of Colón, Jagüey Grande, Agramonte, Hoyo Colorado, and Bolondrón in the province of Matanzas without electric service this Thursday, according to the Electric Company of Matanzas on its Facebook account.
The company did not specify the technical cause of the failure nor provide an estimated time for restoration, although it confirmed that teams of workers were on-site to resolve the issue "as soon as possible."
The outage occurs amidst a nationwide electrical crisis of extreme severity. According to the report from the Electric Union (UNE) for this Thursday, the availability of the National Electroenergetic System at six in the morning was only 840 MW compared to a demand of 2,225 MW, resulting in a shortfall of 1,395 MW.
For the peak nighttime demand schedule, UNE forecasted a deficit of 1,860 MW and an estimated impact of 1,890 MW, figures that reflect that the system covers less than a third of what the country needs.
The situation on Wednesday was similarly critical: the maximum impact reached 1,883 MW at eight in the evening and persisted for 24 hours, with no relief even in the early morning.
The precariousness of the system is compounded by the fact that several thermoelectric units remain out of service. This Thursday, the following units were reported as malfunctioning: unit 1 of the CTE Santa Cruz, the unit from CTE Antonio Guiteras, unit 2 of the CTE Felton, and unit 3 of the CTE Renté, while three other units were undergoing maintenance.
The Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric power plant —the largest in the country, located precisely in Matanzas— went offline on Wednesday at 4:06 PM due to a leak in the economizer, while generating 180 MW.
Román Pérez Castañeda, the general director of the plant, explained to the Cuban News Agency that the facility was in the cooling process to precisely determine the damaged area before commencing repairs, and that the shutdown would be used to carry out maintenance tasks that cannot be performed while the plant is in operation.
It is not the first time that the Guiteras has failed due to this component: so far in 2026, the plant has gone offline at least 17 times, mostly due to breakdowns in the economizer, a component that requires a major repair of about 180 days that the authorities have been unable to carry out.
The municipalities affected by the outage in Agramonte have recent histories of extremely prolonged blackouts. In mid-October, Colón accumulated outages of up to 41 hours, Jagüey Grande approached 60 hours, and Bolondrón neared 70 consecutive hours without electricity.
The Agramonte substation also has a history of dielectric oil thefts: in October 2024, 100 liters were stolen on two different occasions. Three individuals were sentenced earlier this month to prison terms ranging from eight to 15 years for these incidents and other similar thefts at substations in the province.
By the end of August, Matanzas had recorded 175 thefts of dielectric oil, with over 55,950 liters stolen, 91 transformers damaged, and 43 of its 98 substations affected, 12 of which were completely out of service.
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