The power outage in Ecuador has been almost completely resolved. Acting Energy Secretary Roberto Luque reports in a Message on X 95 percent of the power supply has been restored.

The outage left power in the South American country, which has a population of about 18 million people. Loki said that the error that occurred today was in the electrical connection system previously. The outage lasted for 20 minutes in some sectors of the country, but media and social media users reported that the problem lasted longer in most cities.

Luki now blames the power outages on inadequate maintenance. “What happened today is further evidence of the energy crisis we are facing,” he said, referring to recent problems with the country’s power generation systems. “We have not invested in these systems for years and today we are seeing the consequences of that.”

The Associated Press spoke with a waitress at a restaurant north of the capital, Quito. She said she was surprised by the extent of the power outage. “We thought it was only in our area, but when we left we realized that most of the shops had no electricity,” she said. “The traffic lights weren’t working either.” Municipality of Quito king Traffic police officers were mobilized to direct traffic.

Quito Metro, the company that operates the city’s subway system, said service had been halted as a result of the outage.

X showed photos of people in Quito who had to exit the metro due to disruption and continue on the path:

Ecuador has been facing problems in generating electricity since last year. In April, the government of President Daniel Noboa began rationing electricity distribution in the country’s major cities. This is because hydropower plants were unable to operate optimally due to drought caused by the El Niño weather phenomenon.

This led to the depletion of power plants’ reservoirs. According to the Associated Press, about 75 percent of the country’s electricity is produced in hydroelectric power plants.