Cuba’s Electricity Conglomerate (UNE) reported that the electricity service has been affected since 8:00 a.m. this Monday in different locations on the island, due to “the increase in demand above what was forecast for the day.”
The entity explained that, “if current conditions are maintained,” power cuts will be carried out using the rotation of five shutdown blocks, so that “the maximum impact does not exceed four hours per consumer in all provinces,” Cubadebate reported.
La Unión Eléctrica informa:
Debido al incremento de la demanda por encima de lo pronosticado en el día de hoy, a partir de las 08:00 horas se comenzó a afectar el servicio eléctrico y se mantendrá durante toda la mañana y la tarde.— Unión Eléctrica (@OSDE_UNE) July 5, 2021
Likewise, the UNE recognized that “in the face of the imminent passage of Tropical Storm Elsa, affecting the service seems counterproductive,” and insisted that at this time “electricity demand exceeds generation capacity.”
According to the source, there are still breakdowns in some thermoelectric plants and work is underway to restore services “in the shortest possible time.”
The Electricity Conglomerate urged consumers in the residential sector to “reinforce the rational use of electricity in homes.”
In recent days, the entity announced that the effects on the electric service in Cuba would continue until the power generation capacities were recovered, which have been limited as a result of breakdowns in thermoelectric plants and problems with the supply of fuel.
Sector authorities assured that “a short-term program to recover the availability of thermal generation is being worked on without interruption in order to reverse the situation as of the end of next week,” the official newspaper Granma reported days ago.
Cuba: autoridades esperan “revertir” apagones “a partir de finales de la próxima semana”
The official organ of the Cuban Communist Party recognized that the outage of several units due to breakdowns such as the Antonio Guiteras Thermoelectric Power Plant, Felton and Renté 6, as well as other units that are under maintenance, made it necessary “to change the planning regarding the rotation of the affected blocks.”
The official media then assured that “it is a complex situation that affects different territories” and confirmed that “in recent weeks, several provinces such as Cienfuegos, Santiago de Cuba, Camagüey, Matanzas and Havana, have established changes in the blocks, in a general average of between 4 and 6 hours of affectation.”