Cuba’s national electricity grid collapses, plunging island into widespread blackout

Cuba’s national electricity grid has collapsed, plunging the island into a widespread blackout.

The state-run Electric Union, known as UNE, announced the collapse on X late on Sunday but did not immediately identify its cause, the extent of the disruption or when electricity would be restored.

Before the nationwide failure, Havana’s electricity company had reported outages caused by damaged transformers, circuit failures, and planned cuts linked to insufficient generating capacity.

Early on Sunday, it recorded dozens of unresolved complaints across various municipalities, including Guanabacoa, Habana del Este, La Lisa, and Marianao, according to the Reuters news agency.

Authorities typically attempt to recover from a total collapse by creating small, isolated power networks to supply hospitals, water systems and food facilities before gradually reconnecting larger generating plants.

Series of nationwide blackouts

Sunday’s failure is the latest in a series of nationwide blackouts this year. The grid collapsed three times within nine days in July, including two island-wide failures in the same week. One of those outages left about 10 million people without electricity, while authorities struggled to restore power because the country could not generate enough electricity to meet demand even after the network was reconnected.

Cuba’s electricity system has deteriorated amid shortages of fuel and replacement parts, as well as repeated breakdowns at ageing thermoelectric plants. Some generating facilities are more than 30 years old and have received limited maintenance.

The Cuban government blames Washington, which has severely restricted oil supplies to the island and access to financing and equipment.

Cuba lost a key source of fuel after United States President Donald Trump imposed an oil blockade on the island following the US’s January 3 abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

Venezuela had long been Cuba’s primary oil supplier, and imports from Mexico have also been halted amid increased pressure from Washington.

Others, meanwhile, cite decades of underinvestment and mismanagement in the energy sector.

Extended outages have disrupted transport, water supplies, communications and medical services. They have also left households struggling to preserve food, cook meals or sleep during the summer heat.