Massive CFE Blackout Paralyzes Businesses on Playa del Carmen’s Fifth Avenue

Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo — A massive power outage on Friday night and into Saturday morning left businesses along Playa del Carmen’s iconic Fifth Avenue without electricity, prompting fury from local merchants who say the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) is failing the tourism-dependent city.

“They’re killing us with these high temperatures, plus the economic losses,” said Tulio Pérez Mendoza, a local business owner. He noted that a similar blackout occurred just three days earlier. “This is constant now. It shows the electrical infrastructure is collapsing due to lack of investment and maintenance.” Pérez lamented that no local CFE official is accountable for the disruptions.

Ramón Cárdenas González, president of the Riviera Maya Business Coordinating Council, said Playa del Carmen’s rapid urban growth has overwhelmed the CFE’s capacity, and the utility has failed to invest in new infrastructure or maintain its aging networks.

“This is worrying because without power, restaurants, small hotels, shops, and offices grind to a halt. It directly hits the destination — tourists leave with a bitter disappointment,” Cárdenas said, urging the federal government to upgrade the grid in an economy that relies heavily on tourism.

Business owner José Luis Alarcón denounced the high rates businesses pay for poor service, which has worsened across the city in recent years. He said the outage not only halted sales and online transactions but also caused severe losses for restaurants due to spoiled perishable food in the intense heat.