The Island is preparing again to implement summer time, which begins next Sunday, March 10. To do this, citizens must change their clocks on Saturday, March 9, moving forward one hour after midnight, as indicated by the National Office for the Control of the Rational Use of Energy (Onure).
This change marks the end of the normal schedule and the beginning of a stage designed to “optimize” the use of sunlight, something that is essential in a country where fuel shortages cause problems in electricity generation.
The main objective of the measure is energy savings, as well as seeking to make more rational use of natural light, allowing for a reduction in electricity consumption.
La Onure maintains that moving the time when the lights are turned on by one hour reduces the coincidence between the demand for electricity for cooking food and lighting, thus contributing to energy efficiency on the Island.
Although the authorities want to give the idea that the measure will make a difference, it is important to take into account that it comes with the months when temperatures are the highest of the year, which stimulates the use of climate equipment and greater work by part of the refrigerators.
This additional demand triggers electricity consumption, ultimately causing an inability to satisfy demand and an increase in blackouts during the summer season.
In that sense, the Castro authorities usually increase the intensity with which they ask the population to implement actions for energy savings.
An official note from Onure maintains that the people of the Island must reevaluate their consumption habits and adapt them in a way that “contributes to energy savings” and the improvement of the Cuban economy.
Like every year, the summer season could bring with it protests unleashed due to prolonged blackouts during the hottest nights of the year. These consecutive nights of prolonged blackouts were just one of the factors that caused the massive demonstrations on July 11, 2021, when thousands of citizens took to the streets to demand better living conditions from the government.
Nowadays, there are countries where the time change has stopped being implemented, this after demonstrating that the inconveniences of doing it twice a year were much greater than the negligible energy savings that were achieved. One of these countries is Mexico, whose last change was made in November 2022. Despite this, Cuba insists on maintaining the practice, since for the regime, it is necessary to implement any way to save energy amid the fuel shortage.
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