Millions of residents across multiple Mexican states were left without power Monday after the country experienced several setbacks on its power grid, the independent operator National Center for Energy Control (CENACE) revealed on social media.
The nearly two-hour-long power outage began at 2:29 p.m. local time and saw some 10.3 millions users immediately lose their electricity. According to reports, power outages were reported in Mexico City and multiple Mexican states such as Hidalgo, Jalisco, Sinaloa, Quintana Roo, Oaxaca, Chiapas and Michoacán, among others.
CENACE reported via social media that the massive daytime blackout was caused by an “imbalance in the National Interconnected System between load and power generation.” Additionally, the operator noted that the network lost 7,500 megawatts of electricity.
With assistance from Mexico’s Federal Electricity Commission (CFE), CERACE was able to fully restore power to affected users by 4:12 p.m. local time.
In a separate statement, CFE further explained the network triggered an outage across much of the Spanish-speaking country as part of a system response that prevents “low frequency” occurrences from knocking out power for all of its customers.
Outlet Medio Tiempo also reported that telecommunication companies Telcel, Telmex, Izzi, AT&T and Movistar were experiencing connection issues during the outage.
It’s presently unclear what prompted the power “imbalance.”