Quintana Roo Governor Says She Is Working to End Recurring Power Outages

Cancún, Quintana Roo — Governor Mara Lezama said Thursday she is in constant contact with federal authorities to resolve the state’s recurring power outages and ensure that Quintana Roo’s energy sufficiency on paper is reflected in reliable service for households.

Speaking during her weekly program “La Voz del Pueblo,” Lezama said she spoke with Emilia Calleja, head of the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE), about modernizing the state’s electrical grid. The federal utility has identified that in some areas, homes have been converted from residential use to commercial use or have added more electrical appliances, pushing transformers and substations beyond their rated capacity.

“In other places, informal settlements tap into transformers that serve regular areas, causing the transformer or the distribution system to collapse, leading to blackouts and damaged appliances,” Lezama said.

The governor said that a few days ago she attended a meeting with representatives of all 11 municipalities and CFE staff to discuss the outages. The group agreed to step up maintenance and modernize the grid by installing new, higher-capacity substations in Cancún, Playa del Carmen, Cozumel and Othón P. Blanco.

Lezama also said she met with Energy Secretary Luz Elena González to talk about renewable energy projects for the state.

Following the meeting, CFE posted on social media that it continues to strengthen Quintana Roo’s electrical infrastructure to support growth and respond to demand. The utility said it has sufficient installed capacity, with 2,057 megavolt-amperes (MVA) against a peak demand of 1,370 megawatts. It said it is investing more than 1.125 billion pesos in electrical projects in Benito Juárez, Playa del Carmen and Othón P. Blanco. For Cozumel, CFE announced a new 130 MW submarine cable and an additional 25 MW generating unit.