Browse Honduras Daily Stories

The government froze electricity rates to prevent a 20% surge from power contracts signed by the previous administration, shielding household budgets and the economy while recent rainfall boosts hydroelectric generation.

Honduras's state electricity utility ENEE has begun forgiving accumulated electric bills, penalties, and interest for low-income residential customers with monthly consumption of 250 kilowatt-hours or less, applying the Energy Justice Law.

Congress Energy Commission member Eder Mejía said the government's electric-sector reforms, which would forgive debts for users consuming under 200 kWh monthly, freeze rates for six months, and regularize illegal connections, are expected to be published in the official gazette next week.

The electricity rate in Utila, Bay Islands, will rise from L11.20 to L14.95 per kilowatt-hour on October 1, a 33.5% increase that residents say will strain household budgets; a public assembly is planned for Tuesday to address concerns.

A massive failure in Central America's regional power grid at 11:47 a.m. on Thursday knocked out electricity across Honduras and neighboring Guatemala, Nicaragua, and El Salvador; ENEE and the national dispatch center began gradual restoration efforts with no firm timeline for full recovery.

A national poll finds nearly half of Hondurans view proposed changes to the state utility ENEE as privatization, with 37.4% fearing the reforms will harm households already squeezed by high electricity costs, food prices, and fuel.

The national utility ENEE will cut power in sectors of El Paraíso, Intibucá, Francisco Morazán, and Valle on August 18 and 19 for scheduled maintenance of distribution lines.

The national power utility will cut electricity across zones in Yoro and Cortés departments on July 30 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. for scheduled transmission-line maintenance.

The national power company ENEE will conduct maintenance-related outages in parts of Francisco Morazán and Olancho on July 28 to improve service reliability and continuity.

Honduras's state electricity company will cut power in various sectors on July 22 from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. for distribution-network maintenance aimed at improving reliability and reducing future disruptions.

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.

Vice President María Antonieta Mejía has called on lawmakers to hold a technical debate on proposed reforms to the state-run electricity company ENEE, which faces losses of about 16 billion lempiras (roughly $640 million) and is hampering public investment in education and infrastructure.

A National Party congressman says proposed reforms to Honduras's energy law aim to rescue the state utility ENEE from financial collapse—it loses about 1.5 billion lempiras monthly—and denies the measure includes privatization, calling reports of a selloff false.

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.

ENEE manager Guillermo Peña Panting said a bill to reform Honduras's electricity system is in advanced legislative stages and aims to attract private investment in generation, transmission, and distribution to address chronic blackouts and improve service reliability.

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.

The government will submit a comprehensive electricity-sector reform bill to Congress this week that would split ENEE into three functional divisions—generation, transmission, and distribution—aiming to cut system losses of nearly 38% and stabilize tariffs, officials say.