What does the power cut mean for visitors and residents?

Life on La Palma looks to be back to normal, Antena 3 reports, after the whole island went dark on the morning of 2 November. The reports we reviewed point to no lasting disruption to daily life.

No source says which places got their lights back first. Nor is there a separate report for the holiday resorts in the south of the island.

Whether flights, hotels or shops were affected is not yet known. If you have a booking and feel unsure, ask your landlord or host directly.

The reports contain no guidance from the authorities. Nothing has been published on whether those affected can claim compensation or where they can lodge a complaint.

When did the power go out, and how many customers were affected?

The island lost all its power at 06:38, according to democrata.es. Spanish reports call this a «cero energético», a complete loss of supply.

officialpress.es gives 06:42 instead, and no official figure settles the difference. democrata.es says 50,508 abonados (customers with an electricity contract) were affected.

That number comes from the site’s search preview, so we could not check it against the original text. Power was fully back at 08:51, according to democrata.es.

The Antena 3 report carries the time 10:59. It is unclear whether that marks the restoration or the publication.

What is known about the cause and the response?

A fault hit the 66-kilovolt Guinchos–Valle line around 04:00, democrata.es says. The site describes it as the only transmission line on the island run by the grid operator Red Eléctrica (REE).

The source does not say whether this fault caused the blackout. Nobody has published an official cause so far.

According to democrata.es, generating sets were switched on at the Los Guinchos thermal power station. REE repaired the line and re-energised it.

According to officialpress.es, the Canary Islands government triggered a warning level in the PLATECA emergency plan. Our research found no statement from the Gobierno de Canarias, Endesa or REE dated 2 November.

Were there storms or other outages on the same day?

La Palma was under the highest rain warning on 2 November, with up to 62 litres per square metre in one hour, according to officialpress.es. None of the sources links the blackout to the weather.

The same site says power failed on Tenerife the day before, Sunday 1 November, for around 180,000 customers and 27 minutes. That claim has not been independently confirmed.

Why does the power keep failing on La Palma?

The island has been here before. A total outage began at 17:32 on 10 June 2025, and RTVC reported that it ended in less than three hours.

RTVC called it the sixth fault in about a month, with the earlier ones each hitting between 9,000 and 19,500 customers. Alberto Hernández, the Canary Islands government’s Director General de Energía, blamed outdated equipment at the Los Guinchos plant at the time.

He said one generator failed and set off the collapse. Los Guinchos has the oldest machines in the Canaries, according to RTVC: more than half are over 25 years old and two are over 50.

Endesa, which runs the diesel plant, asks why the loss of one generator brought down the whole island. Like the other islands, La Palma has its own grid with no link to the mainland.

RTVC also reports a total outage in September 2013. It was caused then by a switch fault at Los Guinchos.

What plans exist for the power station and the grid?

Endesa and RTVC both speak of a twelve-year delay in rebuilding La Palma’s power generation. The Spanish Ministry for Ecological Transition (MITECO) put the project out to tender, and Endesa, by its own account, was the only bidder.

According to Endesa, the islands must replace diesel generation before 2029, when seven engines at Los Guinchos would have to shut down. The result of the tender is not confirmed.

Voz Pópuli says REE is working on an expansion of the 66 kV Los Guinchos substation, estimated at 4 million euros. After the May 2025 outages, Mariano Hernández Zapata’s environment and energy department (Consejería de Transición Ecológica) demanded reports from Endesa and REE within ten days.

Our research found no outcome. Whether such reports are being requested again is unclear.