Cuba begins power restoration after third complete energy grid collapse this month

(SeaPRwire) –   Cuba started rebooting its energy infrastructure on Sunday, one day after a nationwide total grid failure plunged millions into darkness for the third time this month.

Around 72,000 customers in the capital—including five hospitals—regained electricity early Sunday, per a report from the state-owned Electric Union and Ministry of Energy and Mines, though this represents just a small fraction of Havana’s roughly 2 million residents.

Local power microsystems were deployed in Havana and provinces like western Matanzas and eastern Holguin to supply critical facilities. Some capital residents told The Associated Press that power returned in the early morning hours.

Cuba is now grappling with an unprecedented energy crisis. Its aging grid has deteriorated sharply in recent years, but the government has also blamed the outages on a U.S. energy blockade—after President Donald Trump warned in January of tariffs on any country selling or supplying oil to Cuba. His administration is demanding Cuba release political prisoners and move toward political and economic liberalization in exchange for sanctions relief. Trump has also floated the idea of a “friendly takeover of Cuba.”

Another factor in Cuba’s shrinking oil supplies is the U.S. rejection of Venezuela’s former President Nicolás Maduro, which halted key petroleum shipments from the nation that had long been a loyal ally to Havana.

President Miguel Díaz-Canel stated that the island hasn’t received foreign oil supplies for three months. Cuba produces just 40% of the fuel it needs to power its economy.

Daily power outages are heavily impacting the population, disrupting lives through reduced work hours, lack of electricity for cooking, damaged household appliances and numerous other consequences.

“Because of the blackout and low voltage, my refrigerator broke—today. The day before yesterday, the voltage also dropped around 10 p.m.,” Suleydi Crespo, a 33-year-old mother of two young children, told AP on Saturday. “If there’s no electricity tomorrow, we won’t be able to get water.”

Residents also voiced fatigue from the constant outages, whether nationwide or partial.

The Cuban Electric Union—overseen by the Ministry of Energy and Mines—reported that the complete shutdown of the national energy system stemmed from an unplanned closure of a generation unit at the Nuevitas thermoelectric plant in Camaguey province, without providing details on the exact cause of the failure.

The last nationwide blackout happened on Monday and took several days to restore power.

Saturday’s outage marked the second in the past week and third in March.

“We have to get used to keeping up our usual routine. What else can we do? We have to try to survive. Get used to things, with or without electricity,” said Dagnay Alarcón, a 35-year-old vendor.

Authorities—including Díaz-Canel himself—have acknowledged the severity of the current energy situation. Vice Minister of Energy and Mines Argelio Abad Vigo explained this week that the country has gone three months without receiving supplies of diesel, fuel oil, gasoline, aviation fuel or liquefied petroleum gas—all vital for the economy and power generation.

Vehicle fuel sales are rationed, airlines have suspended flights or cut frequencies, and many workplaces have reduced hours.

Trump has for months suggested Cuba’s government is on the verge of collapse. After a prior grid failure, he told reporters he believed he’d soon have “the honor of taking Cuba.”