Cuba restored electricity service in the east after a new partial blackout

A failure in a high-voltage line left more than three million people without electricity in eastern Cuba. (AP photo/Ramón Espinosa) More than three million people were left without electricity this Saturday in the east of the island, after a failure in a high-voltage line caused a partial blackout in Cuba's electrical system, according to EFE. Service was restored about four hours later, according to the Electric Union (UNE). The incident occurred at 12:46 local time, when a trip was recorded on the 220-kilovolt line connecting Nuevitas, in Camagüey, with Las Tunas. The breakdown disconnected part of the National Electric Power System (SEN) and affected several eastern provinces. The UNE reported that the SEN restored the connection in that region during the afternoon. The information was released by official media outlets. The outage occurred in infrastructure that connects two central points for power distribution to eastern Cuba. The interruption simultaneously left a significant portion of the inhabitants of that area of the country without service. The electric company specified that the fault was linked to the 220 kV Nuevitas-Tunas line. Jorge Luis Maceira, general director of the October 10 Thermoelectric Power Plant, told state media that unit six of that plant remained operational after the failure. The plant is located in the municipality of Nuevitas, in the province of Camagüey, and its contribution remained within the SEN. The continuity of that unit made it possible to sustain part of the available generation while the recovery of the electricity supply advanced in the east of the island. Cuba recorded eight nationwide blackouts in 2026 that affected a large part of its 9.4 million inhabitants. (REUTERS/Norlys Perez) The new partial outage occurs amid an energy crisis that has deepened over the past two years on the island. In recent months, different areas of the country have experienced daily blackouts exceeding 20 consecutive hours, due to limited generation capacity. The Cuban regime acknowledged that the situation of the electrical system is critical. Among the factors it cites are the deterioration of facilities, the lack of investment for decades, and restrictions on access to fuel. Cuba's thermoelectric plants contribute about 40% of the electricity generated in the country. Much of that infrastructure was built in the 1960s and 1970s, so it requires frequent repairs and has difficulty maintaining stable operation. Of the 16 existing thermoelectric generation units, more than half are usually out of service each day due to breakdowns or maintenance work, according to data cited by EFE. That situation reduces the margin of response to incidents in the transmission networks, such as the one that affected eastern Cuba this Saturday. The thermoelectric plants built in the 1960s and 1970s generate about 40 percent of the country's electricity. (REUTERS/Norlys Perez/Archive) So far in 2026, Cuba has suffered eight nationwide blackouts, in addition to a similar number of partial interruptions. Those episodes left a large part of the island's 9.4 million inhabitants without power at different times. The national and regional outages add to a scenario of daily deficits that affects domestic life, the operation of businesses, transportation, and other services. Saturday's recovery made it possible to restore the supply in the east, although the structural limitations of the Cuban electrical system persist.