More Areas in Matanzas to Experience Power Outages: Changes to Protected Circuits Announced

On Friday, the electric authorities in Matanzas revealed a new measure that will lead to more residential areas in the province losing electricity. This involves installing disconnectors in protected circuits to physically separate hospitals from other neighborhoods, thereby including these areas in the regular blackout rotation. This information was reported by the state-run newspaper Girón.

Alejandro Rodríguez Azpeitía, the director of the Provincial Electric Company, outlined that the plan includes the installation of 12 disconnectors in total. This move aims to free up 19 MW currently reserved to protect hospital circuits, allowing a broader distribution of electricity.

"By doing so, we can achieve a more equitable distribution of power, minimizing the MW consumption of these protected circuits and redistributing energy to lessen the impact on the remaining circuits," the official stated.

In practical terms, this decision means that non-essential neighborhoods that previously benefited from sharing a circuit with a hospital will now face the same electricity cuts as the rest of the population.

At the time of the announcement, four out of the 12 devices had already been installed. One was placed at the University of Matanzas, covering the areas of Gelpi and Canímar, another for separating Mocha, and two within the circuit of the Pediatric Hospital. There are still two more to be installed at the same pediatric circuit, and one each at the hospitals in Jovellanos and Cárdenas.

Rodríguez Azpeitía noted, "The plan is to gradually incorporate these newly affected areas into the rotation; eventually, they will become part of the standard circuit rotation."

The situation is worsened by the condition of transformers. As of Tuesday, the province had 162 damaged transformers — 37 high voltage, 116 medium, and nine low — leaving 5,687 customers and over 15,000 people without power.

The deterioration rate is about three to four pieces of equipment per day, exacerbated by recent storms and the overload caused by portable charging devices and electric scooters.

The director provided an example: "An ecoflow charger, taking 40 minutes to charge, uses around 1,200 W. In any given neighborhood, there are at least 10 of these, which adds 12 kW to a 50 kW transformer, nearly 20% of its designed load, causing damage."

Replacement of equipment is currently stalled. "The transformer factory is virtually at a standstill due to a lack of oil. We haven't received any equipment for about 15 days. In other words, they get damaged without replacement," the official admitted, adding that dielectric oil is expected to arrive soon to resume production.

The oldest unreplaced transformer in the province dates back to July 23, leaving 70 homes in an industrial area of Matanzas without service. The second oldest case has been pending since August 3.

This situation unfolds as Cuba endures over 100 days of severe power outages affecting numerous communities. The most extreme case documented in the province is the town of Cantel in Cárdenas, which as of October 28, had gone 109 consecutive days without electricity or water, with no municipal government representative offering assistance.

Nationally, the electricity deficit projected for this Friday is about 1,960 MW, with an availability of merely 840 MW against a demand of 2,800 MW. On Thursday, the real impact was 2,004 MW, marking the crisis as critically severe.