Cuba restores power grid and resumes planned blackouts of 5 hours a day

A man cooks soup over an open fire on a sidewalk, during a blackout in Havana, Cuba, Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

HAVANA -

After a nationwide blackout left millions without electricity for several hours in Cuba, the power grid was restored Thursday, authorities said, adding that scheduled power outages will now resume.

The latest blackout, the third one of this severity in less than two months, occurred in the early hours of Wednesday, after a breakdown at a thermoelectric plant in Matanzas province, east of Havana. The incident triggered a chain reaction, overwhelming an already strained power system.

On Thursday, classes and work activities gradually returned to normal.

As for the scheduled power outages, Cuban authorities said they will continue their current practice of implementing daily, five-hour power outages by block or zone as they have been doing for the past few months.

On Oct. 18, the island suffered a significant blackout that, added to the passage of Hurricane Oscar two days later, left the island without electricity for several days.

Weeks later, Hurricane Rafael’s strong winds triggered another system-wide blackout that left the national energy system disconnected again.

Cuba’s power grid has been plagued by frequent outages in recent months, with more than half of the country experiencing power cuts during peak hours. The outages are primarily caused by fuel shortages and aging infrastructure. In many parts of the island, electricity is crucial for cooking and water pumping.