POWER SHORTAGE: Belize’s Electricity Supply Struggles to Meet Demand

Belize has again entered a period of load shedding after shortages in local generation left the national grid unable to fully absorb disruptions in electricity supplied from Mexico.

Belize Electricity Limited confirmed that controlled power interruptions have already been used following two major outages in late August, reviving a problem that affected customers last year and exposing continued weaknesses in the country’s generation reserves.

On August 25, BEL experienced an unplanned system collapse after temporarily losing electricity supplied by Mexico’s Comisión Federal de Electricidad, or CFE. At the time, available in-country generation stood at approximately 103 megawatts, while evening demand reached 122 MW — a shortfall of about 19 MW.

BEL said its grid protection system responded by shedding load across several parts of the country to restore the balance between available supply and demand. CFE supply returned at 10:54 p.m.

A second major interruption followed on August 31. BEL reported that available local generation then stood at approximately 109 MW against demand of 117 MW. The temporary loss of CFE supply again occurred while domestic generation was already below national demand, resulting in another loss of power to the grid.

The recurrence comes less than a year after BEL implemented rotational load shedding in September 2025 under similar circumstances. On September 26 last year, a major system collapse in Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula cut CFE supply to Belize while domestic generation was insufficient to meet demand. BEL subsequently rotated outages until Mexican supply returned at 11:30 p.m.

Load shedding involves deliberately disconnecting selected portions of the electricity network when supply cannot meet demand. The measure helps prevent instability in the wider grid but results in temporary outages for affected customers.

BEL says the present shortage reflects a combination of seasonal conditions, scheduled maintenance and reduced output from some generating facilities. The utility had already advised authorities in October 2025 that Belize faced a potential electricity supply shortfall during 2026.

That warning prompted Cabinet to make an emergency declaration under the Public Utilities Commission’s Request for Proposal Regulations, allowing BEL to procure temporary generation capacity.

The additional generation is now being installed at BEL’s Westlake facility and is expected to begin operating by mid-September for an initial six-month period. BEL says the capacity should provide additional support during periods of high demand or when another major source of electricity becomes temporarily unavailable.

Until then, however, BEL has warned that further controlled interruptions may still be required to protect the stability of the National Grid if significant electricity supply is unexpectedly lost.

The immediate vulnerability centres partly on Belize’s reliance on CFE when domestic generation falls below demand. Recent disruptions in southeastern Mexico have also affected the regional electricity system feeding Belize, making interruptions on the Mexican side particularly consequential when Belize has little generation reserve available.

The August events therefore represent more than isolated outages. They show that, for a second consecutive year, Belize has entered periods in which available local generation cannot independently cover peak demand, leaving BEL dependent on imported supply and forced to shed load when that supply disappears.