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A transmission fault cuts power across Cuba as the national grid collapses
September 19, 2026
Cuba's energy ministry says the country's entire electricity grid disconnected on Friday afternoon after a transmission fault in central Cuba, cutting power nationwide.
Cuba runs its electricity on ageing thermoelectric plants and on imported fuel, and partial and nationwide blackouts have hit the island repeatedly this year.
Key facts
- Venezuela, a close partner of Havana, was thought to be supplying roughly 35,000 barrels a day, close to half of what Cuba consumes, and that flow ended once the US seized President Nicolás Maduro in January.
- UNE placed the start of the failure shortly before 2pm on Friday, which is 18:00 GMT, and pointed to a fault on a transmission line together with bad weather in the centre of the island.
- Conditions have grown worse since January, when the United States put an energy blockade in place with the aim of pushing Cuba to change its political system.
- Two island-wide failures came in early August, and before those the power went out across the country in July and in March, alongside a number of smaller regional failures.
- Washington, for its part, lays the island's energy troubles at the door of mismanagement at home, and has called Cuba a "national security threat".
BBC reports that UNE traced the failure to a transmission fault in central Cuba, which poor weather made worse. The outage began on Friday afternoon in Cuba. Cuba's energy ministry describes a total disconnection of the national grid, an account BBC and Reuters both carry. Reuters, in its own telling, has the grid failing once more and the island going dark. CBS News sets the event in sequence, reporting two nationwide blackouts in early August and others in July and March, alongside several regional outages, while BBC counts this as at least the sixth blackout in Cuba this year, whether partial or total. Fox News carries the same account, and the outlets corroborate one another on the failure, its timing and its scale.
On cause, the outlets agree and differ only in emphasis. BBC ties the strain to ageing infrastructure and chronic fuel shortages, compounded by a US blockade on oil shipments. CBS News puts the blockade at the center, reporting that Washington imposed an energy blockade in January meant to force a change in Cuba's political system, and that the restrictions keep the island from importing both fuel for its thermoelectric plants and the replacement parts its older equipment needs. CBS News also reports an executive order from Trump that puts tariffs on any country supplying Cuba with oil. BBC adds the Venezuelan piece, reporting that Cuba was believed to receive around 35,000 barrels a day, about half its needs, until Venezuelan supplies were cut off after the US seizure of President Nicolas Maduro in January, and that Washington blames poor internal management and accuses Cuba of being a threat to national security.
What the blackouts do to people is corroborated as well. CBS News reports limits on transportation, shorter working hours and cancelled flights, along with serious consequences for public health, and it reports that cooking, water supply, internet and telephone service all fail with the power. BBC reports that repeated blackouts have prompted rare protests in a country that outlaws demonstrations held without permission and can jail people who take part. Settled across the outlets are the fault, the total disconnection, the sequence of earlier outages this year and the sanctions backdrop. Unsettled is what it takes to put the grid back.
Still developing
The supply of fuel and replacement parts needed to operate Cuba's thermoelectric power plants had not moved as of the draft.
How settled the reporting is
Sources
- BBC — Cuba blackout leaves millions without power again
- CBS News — Cuba's power grid collapses again, leaving millions without electricity for at least 6th time this year
- Fox News — Cuba plunges into total blackout as electrical grid collapses again, US Embassy warns
Toggle read the full reports of 3 of the 4 outlets counted on this event. The other 1 are counted from their headlines and opening sentences.