Minister Manzano Confirms Two More Sunday Power Cuts in Guayas for Dos Cerritos Substation Work

What Manzano Said

Inés Manzano, Ecuador's Minister of Environment and Energy, confirmed on April 14 that there will be two more Sundays of scheduled power interruptions in Guayas province for maintenance work at the Dos Cerritos substation (source).

Her verbatim statement: "Tenemos a Dos Cerritos, tiene que ser arreglada dos domingos más, en horarios de 05:00 a 08:00 de la mañana."

In plain English: three-hour planned outages from 5:00 AM to 8:00 AM on two upcoming Sundays.

Areas Affected

The Dos Cerritos substation feeds portions of several Guayas cantons. Primicias names the following affected areas:

• Guayaquil (partial)
• Samborondón
• Santa Lucía
• Pedro Carbo
• Daule (home to the substation itself)

Manzano also flagged that CNEL, the regional distributor, failed to adequately notify the public about earlier scheduled cuts on April 11–12. She noted that separate "trabajos puntuales" — specific maintenance tasks — are being carried out by various CNEL units.

Specific Dates Not Yet Public

Important caveat: The Minister's statement confirms the structure of the outages (two Sundays, 5–8 AM) but as of Primicias' publication, the exact calendar dates of the two Sundays have not been publicly specified. Expect CNEL or the Ministry to announce them through official channels.

What This Means for Expats

• If you live in Guayaquil, Samborondón, Santa Lucía, Pedro Carbo, or Daule, check official CNEL channels early in the week. The two Sundays are not yet officially dated. Sign up for WhatsApp notifications from your CNEL office if available.
• The 5 AM to 8 AM window is a planning window, not a suggestion. Run laundry, charge devices, and prep coffee the night before. If you have medical devices that depend on power, make arrangements now — don't wait.
• Don't trust WhatsApp images of outage schedules. See the next article — the Ministry has already flagged a circulating fake schedule as false.
• This is distinct from the heat-driven blackouts. Last weekend's AC-overload outages across Guayaquil were a grid capacity issue. These two Sundays are planned maintenance at a specific substation. Different problem, different fix.

Source: Primicias