Yucatán Blackout: 2 Million Without Power

YUCATÁN PENINSULA, Mexico — A failure in a transmission line left more than two million users without power in Yucatán, Campeche, and Quintana Roo on Friday; authorities admitted that nine power plants were taken out of operation. Experts warn that increasing demand and obsolete infrastructure could provoke widespread blackouts, while the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) denies this and asks the public to report failures.

On the afternoon of Friday, September 26, 2025, shortly after two o'clock, the Yucatán Peninsula began to go dark. Within minutes, homes, hospitals, airports, and hotels were plunged into chaos; traffic lights failed and traffic gridlock seized Cancún, Playa del Carmen, and Mérida.

The CFE later confirmed that a failure in a transmission line during maintenance work provoked the massive blackout that affected Yucatán, Campeche, and Quintana Roo. Nine operational plants generating more than 2,174 megawatts were taken offline.

The federal government responded tardily. After four in the afternoon, President Claudia Sheinbaum posted on her X account that the plants were in good condition and that personnel from the CFE and the National Energy Control Center (CENACE) were working to reestablish supply. By that time, the blackout had affected more than two million users and paralyzed Mexico's main tourist destinations and the capital cities of Mérida, Campeche, and Chetumal.

The Secretary of Energy, Luz Elena González, specified that the failure originated in the transmission line and that the problem had impacted nine plants. The chronology of the restoration reflected the scale of the disaster. By 16:30 hours, power had returned to much of Mérida and Valladolid in Yucatán, as well as to Chetumal, Bacalar, Álvaro Obregón, and Holbox in Quintana Roo, and almost all of Campeche.

A couple of hours later, supply reached José María Morelos, Felipe Carrillo Puerto, and Cozumel, while Cancún was only at 9% restoration. By around ten o'clock at night, authorities estimated that electricity would be fully restored, although reports indicated that many neighborhoods remained in the dark.

The consequences were not limited to darkness. The collapse of traffic signals generated traffic chaos on the region's highways; the interruption of telephone networks affected communication and complicated emergency management. Hotels and hospitals resorted to electric generators, but small businesses and families in rural communities were left unprotected.

The Governor of Yucatán, Joaquín Díaz Mena, acknowledged that the blackouts are the result of decades of neglect and a lack of planning, which left the infrastructure without sufficient capacity to respond to growing demand.

This was not the first time the Mexican southeast was left in the dark. On March 24, 2025, a massive outage left hundreds of thousands of users without power in Campeche, Quintana Roo, Tabasco, and Yucatán. On that occasion, the CFE explained that a high humidity index in the Mayakán gas pipeline affected the quality of the natural gas feeding the generation plants, forcing them to switch to alternative fuels. The company implemented rotating cuts to mitigate the impact, and by 23:00 hours, only 47% of users had recovered service. Affected neighborhoods in Cancún and other cities reported traffic chaos, suspended activities, and a severe blow to the tourism industry.

Record-breaking high temperatures this summer have made blackouts a recurring theme. Guillermo Padilla Montiel, president of Vigilantes Ciudadanos por la Transparencia in Sinaloa, warned that failures have already begun to be reported due to the heat and that blackouts could increase as the season progresses. The activist recalled that the widespread use of fans and air conditioners significantly increases electricity consumption and can overwhelm the system's capacity. Furthermore, he emphasized that many transformers are over 40 years old and require urgent replacement.

These warnings have fueled rumors of a massive blackout that would leave the entire country without power for months. Outlets like El Cronista picked up Padilla's statements to indicate that the CFE foresees widespread outages and that some states with extreme climates, like Sinaloa, could be the most affected. However, other media outlets pointed out that the CFE has not issued any communication alerting about massive blackouts and that, until now, scheduled cuts have been preventive measures to avoid a system collapse. The CFE itself insists that it maintains "robust security and prevention analysis mechanisms" and that any issues should be reported to 071.

Behind the crisis lies a structural pattern: electrical demand surpasses generation and transmission capacity during periods of extreme heat. In 2024, CENACE reported that consumption reached 50,000 MW due to the intensive use of air conditioning, while wind and solar generation plummeted due to cloudiness. The consequence was rotating blackouts in several states to avoid a total collapse.

The problem is worse on the Yucatán Peninsula, where geographical conditions limit interconnection with the rest of the country and the infrastructure depends on vulnerable gas pipelines and transmission lines.

The memory of these recent blackouts fuels the fear of a greater disaster, but it also reveals the precariousness of the Mexican electrical system. Local authorities and experts agree that an energy re-engineering is required, including investment in more robust transmission lines, replacement of aging transformers, diversification of generation sources, and a plan to face increasingly frequent heatwaves.

The director of the CFE, Emilia Calleja, has promised that new plants and natural gas projects will guarantee the region's self-sufficiency in the coming years, but so far, the plans have only just begun and uncertainty persists.

Meanwhile, citizens face uncertainty with domestic measures: acquiring rechargeable lamps, checking their electrical installations, and having water and food supplies for emergencies. The recommendation from the citizen watchdogs is to prepare a family plan and report any failures directly to the CFE.

The lesson is clear: the Yucatán Peninsula and the entire country cannot depend on patches and improvised responses. Without investment and planning, the next blackout will cease to be news and become routine.