The price per cubic metre rises from 2.50 to 4.97 pesos, while prices for households without a meter range from 100 to 400 CUP depending on the number of occupants
14ymedio, Havana, 13 June 2026 / “Pass this on to the neighbours so everyone finds out in time.” That is the warning accompanying a new price table for manufactured gas – cooking gas – that has been circulating since this weekend through various WhatsApp groups in Havana. The table nearly doubles the current tariff and significantly increases the bill for customers who do not have a meter.
According to the message, the cubic metre will rise to 4.97 pesos, compared to the 2.50 established since January 2021. A household consuming 30 cubic metres a month, for example, will no longer pay 75 pesos but will instead owe 149.10.
The increase amounts to 98.8%, but the blow will be greater for so-called non-metered customers, whose bill does not depend on actual consumption but on a quantity of cubic metres assigned according to the number of residents in the dwelling.
The table being circulated sets a monthly payment of 99.40 pesos for households of one or two people, corresponding to 20 cubic metres. Households of between three and five residents will have to pay 298.20 pesos for 60 cubic metres, while dwellings with six or more occupants will be assigned 80 cubic metres and a bill of 397.60 pesos.
The informal document also sets the cost of a cut-off and reconnection at 370 pesos, far above the 50 pesos established in the regulations approved under the Tarea Ordenamiento. [Ordering Task].
The increase amounts to 98.8%, but the blow will be greater for so-called non-metered customers
As of this Saturday, neither the Manufactured Gas Company, nor Unión Cuba-Petróleo, nor the Ministry of Energy and Mines had published on their websites any communication confirming the new prices. Nor has the corresponding resolution been found in the Gaceta Oficial.
The message itself, as shared among customers, acknowledges that the information is still awaiting public release. “In any case, it will be announced through the company’s official channels,” states the text, which asks recipients to pass the warning on to their neighbours.
The absence of any official explanation has raised doubts about the date of entry into force, the territorial scope of the measure, and the procedure for determining consumption in dwellings without a meter.
Manufactured gas is distributed primarily across several Havana municipalities through a pipeline network, unlike liquefied gas, which is sold in cylinders. Metered customers’ bills are calculated from the monthly meter reading, while non-metered customers are charged a fixed rate based on the composition of the household.
The most recent official tariff found appears in Extraordinary Official Gazette No. 68, published on 10 December 2020 as part of the monetary reform measures. The regulation set the retail price of manufactured gas at 2.50 CUP per cubic metre and that of liquefied gas at 21.30 pesos per kilogram.
The measure hits especially hard those dwellings that have no meter and cannot reduce their bill through conservation
The provision also established a maximum rate of 65 pesos per hour for new installation, renovation, modification, or equipment fitting work, and 50 pesos per hour for cut-off and reconnection services.
If the new table is confirmed, the price per cubic metre will have remained unchanged for more than five years before experiencing a near-100% rise. However, for some non-metered customers the total increase in the bill could be considerably greater, owing to the volume of consumption that will be automatically assigned to them.
A three-person household, for example, will have to pay for 60 cubic metres regardless of whether their actual consumption falls below that figure. The measure hits especially hard those dwellings that have no meter and cannot reduce their bill through conservation.
The informal circulation of such measures has become commonplace in Cuba, where users learn of price changes, service interruptions, and new regulations through neighbourhood groups before the authorities announce them publicly.
“Now we just need the bill to arrive,” commented a Havana resident after receiving the table in her building’s chat group. In a city subject to lengthy blackouts, manufactured gas remains one of the few relatively stable alternatives for cooking – but it may also be about to cease being one of the cheapest.
Translated by GH.
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