Belize is grappling with its second widespread national power outage in seven days, with Belize Electricity Limited (BEL) confirming the failure stemmed from an unexpected interruption to imported electricity from Mexico’s national power utility Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE), at a time when domestic generation capacity was already struggling to meet customer demand.
Data released by BEL details the tight supply balance that left the national grid vulnerable on August 31. On that date, total available in-country generation capacity reached only 109 megawatts, while total customer demand hit 117 megawatts – an 8-megawatt gap that left no buffer for an interruption to cross-border imports. This imbalance mirrored conditions exactly one week prior, on August 25, when local generation hit just 103 megawatts against an evening peak demand of 122 megawatts. In both incidents, the sudden loss of CFE supply when the domestic margin was already razor-thin led to full grid outages across the entire country.
CFE later clarified the root cause of its supply interruption: two high-voltage transmission lines in Mexico were forced offline following deliberate acts of vandalism. The outage impacted CFE customers across four Mexican states – Yucatán, Quintana Roo, Campeche and Chiapas – before service began to be progressively restored overnight.
BEL has noted that domestic generation capacity has been constrained for months, with output affected by a combination of seasonal weather patterns, scheduled routine maintenance at existing facilities, and unplanned reduced output at a number of operational power plants. The company had already warned of potential 2026 supply gaps as early as October 2025, prompting an official emergency declaration from Belize’s Cabinet under the Public Utilities Commission’s (PUC) Request for Proposal Regulations. This emergency status cleared the way for BEL to secure contract for temporary floating generation capacity, which is currently being installed at the country’s Westlake Facility. The new capacity is on track to enter service by mid-September 2026, and will remain operational for an initial six-month period to shore up grid reliability.
The additional temporary generation is designed to provide a critical buffer for the national grid during periods of peak demand, or when core supply sources experience unexpected outages. BEL also confirmed that a formal assessment letter submitted to the PUC on August 26 is part of a broader ongoing review of national electricity supply requirements for the next 12 months, which may lead to additional capacity measures being approved.
Even with the upcoming temporary capacity addition, BEL has warned that controlled targeted power interruptions, or rolling load shedding, may still be required occasionally to prevent full grid collapse and maintain overall system stability. This risk remains particularly high if another major supply source is unexpectedly taken offline. The utility has stated that it will continue implementing mitigation measures to reduce disruption to residential and commercial customers across the country as it works to resolve the long-term supply imbalance. The news comes as Belizean consumers already face rising electricity bills, with longer-term renewable energy transition projects intended to fix structural supply gaps still delayed in development.