95% of power restored in Ecuador after nationwide blackout

Power has been almost fully restored in Ecuador after a nationwide blackout left millions in the dark Wednesday, June 19. The blackout affected hospitals, homes and a major subway system. 

Roberto Luque, the country’s public infrastructure minister, said in a post on X Wednesday, June 19, that 95% of service was restored by 7 p.m. local time. Luque said the outage was caused by maintenance and transmission issues in the country’s electrical system, which he stressed could have been avoided if the country had invested more in its infrastructure. 

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“This event is A TRUE REFLECTION OF THE ENERGY CRISIS that we are experiencing, with lack of investment in generation (what happened in April), lack of investment in transmission (what happened today) and in distribution,” Luque’s post read.

Ecuador has been struggling with an energy crisis for years. In April, the president declared an energy emergency, ordering eight-hour nationwide electricity cuts.