Browse Honduras Daily Stories

Honduras's Energy Ministry says 378,920 homes — about 15% of the country — lack electricity, with rural areas most affected and infrastructure investment needed to close the gap.

The research organization Sendas called for energy-sector reform to be built on political independence, reduced technical losses, financial recovery, greater market competition, and accountable leadership to address ENEE's structural crisis, which cost the utility about $530 million in uncollected revenue during 2025.

The private-sector business council estimates that power outages—averaging 21,200 hours of unmet demand annually—cost Honduras about L1.2 billion (roughly $48 million) per year in lost productivity, equipment damage, and generator expenses, while the government pushes stalled reforms to strengthen the state electricity utility.

A think tank says Honduras's state power utility loses about 15 billion lempiras (roughly $600 million) a year, blamed on political interference rather than operational needs, as Congress debates an overhaul bill opposed by some lawmakers who fear weakening the company's market role.

Amparo Canales, former president of Honduras's College of Economists, says energy reforms will require foreign investment and must avoid politicization, while improving the state power company ENEE's efficiency and protecting its assets from privatization.

Edgar Aguilar, an energy analyst at the ASJ (Foundation for the Study of Applied Law), says the National Congress's failure to advance an energy reform bill poses a direct fiscal risk to Honduras as the state utility ENEE continues to post multimillion-lempira losses.

Finance Vice Minister Lilian Rivera said international lending institutions' backing for state utility ENEE reforms could create opportunities for future financing to strengthen and modernize Honduras's power sector.

Roberto Lagos, president of Honduras's central bank, says failure to approve an energy sector reform will perpetuate ENEE's structural problems, mounting debt, and operational losses, and has secured backing from international multilateral organizations.

The World Bank recommended splitting Honduras's state power utility ENEE into three separate units for generation, transmission, and distribution in 2007, but the government did not act; losses have since grown from 25% to 38% of revenue, and experts say the breakup is now urgent.

Central Bank President Roberto Lagos said Honduras holds $11.5 billion in international reserves—enough to cover 6.7 months of imports—and projects 3.5% economic growth this year, though he cautioned that energy-sector reforms are needed to attract investment and push growth above 4%.

A banking and finance expert says reforming Honduras's electric system could help recover over 16 billion lempiras ($640 million) in losses and reduce the fiscal burden on the national power company, which has weakened since 1990.