14ymedio, Havana, 4 September 2020 — The energy consumption forecasts were exceeded this August by just 1.1%, but it has been enough for the Cuban authorities to ask the population to reduce consumption. On Thursday, Deputy Prime Minister Ramiro Valdés Menéndez asked the municipal energy councils to identify the high consumers in residences and state services.
The National Energy Council estimated consumption in August at 16,890 megawatt hours, 1.1% higher than what the Island can afford. Furthermore, on the first day of September, consumption was almost 5% more than the available energy.
Liván Arronte Cruz, Minister of Energy and Mines, specified that electricity consumption is higher at night and in the early morning, especially in the residential areas of the western provinces. However, the head of the area only ended up exonerating the residents of the eastern part of Cuba, noting that in Camagüey and the center of the island energy consumption also shot up.
In August Arronte Cruz, appearing on the Roundtable program on Cuban Television program, said that the blackouts were not caused by fuel shortages and that the oil and gas production plan was being fulfilled by 103%, which would guarantee 51% of the fuel used to generate electricity. The remaining amount is attributed to what was provided by Venezuela.
The measure is worryingly reminiscent of the situation experienced on the island just a year ago, when the fuel deficit put food distribution in jeopardy and electricity consumption was restricted in the countryside and in some industries, which the authorities described as a “temporary energy” situation.
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