Energy Crisis

An economist at Honduras's national university says the state power utility's financial crisis, unresolved across multiple administrations, risks becoming unsalvageable if deterioration continues.

Frequent blackouts across Honduras are causing daily losses to small and medium-sized businesses, with some municipalities reporting up to 14 outages daily and Congress stalled on energy reforms.

About 400,000 subscribers of Honduras's state electricity company ENEE owe more than L12.5 billion (roughly $500 million) in unpaid bills, according to the utility.

Hospital Atlántida in La Ceiba is experiencing dangerous power outages during surgeries because its backup generator is broken, leaving operating rooms dark during procedures.

Honduras's largest power plant, El Cajón, which supplies about 30% of the nation's electricity, is at risk of forced shutdowns due to aging equipment past its useful life and delays in purchasing critical replacement parts, engineers warn.

ENEE manager Guillermo Peña cited insufficient investment and maintenance of the electricity grid as the root cause of Honduras's recurring power outages.

Honduras's private sector says chronic blackouts cause direct losses exceeding 1.2 billion lempiras (about $48 million) per year in lost production, calling for structural energy reforms rather than temporary fixes.

President Nasry Asfura declared the state power company's financial losses and accumulated debt the country's chief economic concern, pledging to stabilize operations while keeping it publicly owned and freeing resources for health, education, and infrastructure.

The Honduran Association of Electricity Producers warns that structural inefficiencies—including theft, non-payment, and infrastructure losses—are forcing citizens to bear rising costs, and urges competitive market reforms to improve service and lower prices.

Frequent blackouts are crippling Honduras's micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises, with the sector reporting estimated daily losses of 15 million lempiras (about $600,000) as outages lasting up to six hours halt production and sales.

Business leaders warn that persistent inflation and rising energy costs remain the top concerns for Honduras's economy, with April's year-over-year inflation reaching 5.56% and Middle East instability driving up fuel prices.

The vice president of the Tegucigalpa Chamber of Commerce warned that while Honduras has made macroeconomic progress, inflation, insecurity, unemployment, and extortion continue to prevent those gains from improving living standards for ordinary Hondurans.