Ministry Debunks Viral Power-Cut Schedule as "False" — Do Not Trust the WhatsApp Image

The Debunk

Ecuador's Ministerio de Ambiente y Energía (Ministry of Environment and Energy) took the unusual step of publicly labeling a circulating WhatsApp and social media schedule of Guayas power cuts as "Falso" — false (source).

The Ministry's X post was flagged with the caption "📍[IMPORTANTE] A la ciudadanía⤵️", followed by the disputed document stamped "Falso."

What the Fake Document Claimed

The fraudulent schedule named outages across:

• Guayaquil
• Samborondón
• Machala
• Daule
• Quito

The cross-provincial scope (Guayas, El Oro, and Pichincha in one document) is one of the reasons the schedule looked suspicious — real outage notifications almost always come from a specific regional distributor.

What's Actually Happening

As confirmed separately by Minister Inés Manzano, the real scheduled maintenance cuts are limited to two upcoming Sundays, running from 5:00 AM to 8:00 AM, affecting areas connected to the Dos Cerritos substation in Daule. Those specific areas — Guayaquil (partial), Samborondón, Santa Lucía, Pedro Carbo, and Daule — are the only confirmed planned outages in Guayas at this time.

What This Means for Expats

• Trust official channels, not WhatsApp chains. Real outage schedules come from CNEL regional offices, the Ministry of Energy's official accounts, or the city government — not from unverified forwarded images.
• If in doubt, check Primicias, El Universo, or El Comercio. Legitimate outages are reported by mainstream outlets within hours.
• The Ministry is actively fighting misinformation now. The fact that they're publicly labeling documents "Falso" on X tells you fake schedules are circulating widely enough to warrant direct intervention.
• Forward-caution rule: If someone sends you a "power cuts coming this week" document, don't forward it until you've verified against an official source.

Source: Primicias