The head of Holguín's Power Company, engineer Ruber Reynaldo González, has acknowledged that the prolonged power outages are causing a series of overloads and breakdowns, exacerbating the energy crisis in the region.
During a broadcast on the local television channel Telecristal, González detailed how the root cause of the line failures and damaged transformers is the pent-up demand that occurs when electricity returns after nearly 40 hours of blackout.
"We can't ask someone, a household that has been in the dark for 40 or 39 hours, not to turn everything on. The overload is too much for us," the official admitted.
He explained that once power is restored, families rush to recharge batteries, backup systems, fans, and other essential devices to cope with the lengthy outages. This concentrated demand triggers protection trips and damages the infrastructure.
"The contrast between having power and going without it now extends to over 30 hours, sometimes 39. So it's understandable that people are out with an EcoFlow or fans in a bag to charge at a relative's or friend's house, leading to the overload," he pointed out.
The situation has plunged the provincial electric grid into a worsening spiral. Even when circuits are energized without major incidents, the impact on transformers is significant, González noted.
"Every time we close a circuit without this phenomenon occurring, it results in 10, 12, 15, and up to 20 transformers tripping," he stated.
The capacity to address these accumulated damages is severely lacking. The country only has three specialized workshops for transformer repairs: one in Havana, another in Villa Clara, and one in Manzanillo serving the eastern region.
The scarcity of equipment and parts has turned repairs into a protracted process. "Tomorrow, six transformers will arrive from Havana, but I have 25 damaged," González revealed, adding that 19 kV transformers have been out of service for over a month due to a lack of spare parts.
The scale of the energy shortfall sheds light on the collapse. Holguín, the second province with the most electric customers in the country, has 383,180 users and a maximum demand nearing 240 MW. However, it currently only has about 70 MW, less than 30% of what's needed to meet its requirements.
From this limited capacity, 26 MW are allocated to essential services, and roughly 20 MW go to the nickel industry, leaving just 14 MW for an estimated residential demand of 190 MW.
As a result, residential circuits receive only about three hours of electricity after enduring between 39 and 40 hours of blackout. The director himself acknowledged that this rotation system is the only available option given the vast gap between generation and consumption.
The scheme becomes even more complicated when a circuit fails before completing its scheduled service time. González admitted that these unexpected interruptions directly impact daily life, as residents rely on those few hours to cook, pump water, and charge essential devices.
The crisis in Holguín has persisted since early 2026. In March, the company implemented schemes of just three hours per shift; by April, outages reached 18 hours daily.
In May, Davielquis Cortina Cobas, director of the UEB Territorial Dispatch, confessed that the strategy leaves entire municipalities without power to keep strategic circuits energized, including the Communist Party headquarters and the provincial government.
The director's statements are among the clearest acknowledgments yet by an electricity sector authority: the blackouts themselves are hastening the decline of an infrastructure already weakened by years of underinvestment, part shortages, and generation deficits, trapping the province in a cycle where each outage spurs new breakdowns and each breakdown leads to more blackouts.
Understanding Holguín's Energy Crisis
What is causing the energy crisis in Holguín?
The crisis is primarily due to prolonged power outages that lead to overloads and infrastructure damage, compounded by a severe shortfall in energy generation and lack of investment in the electrical grid.
How long do residents typically go without electricity?
Residents often endure blackouts lasting between 39 and 40 hours before receiving approximately three hours of electricity.
What measures are being taken to address the transformer damage?
The country has three specialized workshops for transformer repairs, but the scarcity of equipment and parts makes the repair process extremely slow, unable to keep up with the demand.