HAVANA, Dec 4, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Power was gradually being restored to the grid in western Cuba, including the capital Havana, after an early morning blackout left millions of people without electricity on Wednesday, the state utility said.

All provinces were "now connected to the national electrical power system," the national electricity company (UNE) announced at midday.

"Service will be restored gradually depending on generation capacity," the utility said on X.

In Havana, approximately 40 percent of the capital's 1.7 million residents have power again, the Havana Electric Company (EELH) announced just hours after it had reported an outage affecting five provinces in the western region.

"A disconnection of the national electric system occurred at dawn today in the western part, affecting several provinces, from Cienfuegos to Pinar del Rio," the company said in a statement.

Authorities said the latest outage occurred due to an issue on a transmission line between two power plants.

Cuba, saddled with US sanctions for decades, is mired in an economic crisis and has endured five nationwide blackouts since late 2024, some of them lasting days.

Cubans also face daily power outages that sometimes last more than 20 hours and also struggle with shortages of food and other basic goods. Salaries are paltry.

Estela Morales, 78, described to AFP how hard life is as she went to a market in Havana with her husband.

"You don't know when the water will run, when there will be electricity, when there will be food to buy," said Morales.

"We are both retired, so imagine how difficult things can be for us."

The national power grid is decrepit. Cuba's eight power plants were built in the 1980s and '90s.

Thirty solar plants built with help from China have not helped to prevent blackouts.

On Monday, during the time of peak electricity need, 60 percent of the people in Cuba did not have power, the government said.

Cuba's communist government says the US trade embargo, in force since 1962, prevents it from repairing the national power grid. Economists also blame a lack of government investment in the system.

Hurricane Melissa hit Cuba in late October, causing considerable damage, although no one was killed.