Cienfuegos Power Company Confesses to Blackouts Lasting Up to 89 Hours

The Cienfuegos Power Company acknowledged on Wednesday that certain circuits in the province had experienced continuous power outages ranging from 70 to 89 hours. In a more stark revelation, a resident of the Cumanayagua municipality commented on the same Facebook post, stating, "c85 Cumanayagua 92 hours and still counting."

The official statement from the state-run entity began with a straightforward warning: "Today, it will not be possible to adhere to the planned rotation of power service disruptions for the city of Cienfuegos."

The company detailed that after circuits 18 and 20—critical backups for hospitals—faced outages, the service would be rotated to other circuits in the province, with blackout durations between 70 and 89 hours. This was attributed to the "low availability of power generation in the country and the unforeseen shutdown of the Antonio Guiteras Thermoelectric Plant." They did not provide a timeline for when normal service would resume.

Comments from frustrated Cubans directed at the Cienfuegos Power Company included sentiments like, "Nothing scares me, nothing astonishes me more than living for hours like a human," and "The municipalities aren't even mentioned; we've been forgotten by the Cienfuegos power company."

Amid the widespread discontent, some comments provided specific insights into the power distribution. Two users pointed out circuit 5, questioning whether the rotation was effectively implemented in their area.

One user remarked, "I don't know what this famous rotation is because CIRCUIT 5 has been the same for over 15 days. How long will this go on?" Another was more direct: "Always the same, without power for over 20 hours on circuit 5."

The unexpected shutdown of the Antonio Guiteras Thermoelectric Plant—the country's largest with a nominal capacity of 316 MW, located in Matanzas—also drew sarcastic remarks. A resident commented, "Oh God, Guiteras likes to take a stroll now that it's old." The plant experienced its fifth breakdown in October on Tuesday, with an estimated downtime of four days.

One citizen raised a broader question: "Is there a limit to the breakdowns at the Thermoelectric Plants that have been under repair for nearly five years, yet the situation remains the same?"

On Wednesday, the Cuban Electrical Union predicted a maximum nationwide power disruption of 2,045 MW, with only 885 MW available to meet an estimated demand of 2,900 MW. The prolonged blackouts affecting Cienfuegos circuits are not isolated incidents. In Holguín, the Maceo circuit experienced more than 42 hours without service as of Tuesday's end; in Contramaestre, Santiago de Cuba, outages of up to 40 hours were reported days earlier. The National Electric System has endured at least eight total collapses during 2026, the most recent being on September 18.