Cuba warns of energy problems, cuts some work hours

Cubans face tough times in the energy sector in the coming months, official media has warned amid orders from authorities to implement power-saving measures and some state-run entities reducing hours of operation.
Tourism Ministry official Yamila Rombaut said fuel allotments for the agency's vehicles had been cut in half. "The outlook is tight," Rombaut said yesterday. "These will be difficult months."
Speaking to members of parliament, Marino Murillo, Cuba's vice president in charge of economic matters, said Monday that the country's financial situation has been hurt by falling prices for nickel, a key export; missed production targets in the sugar industry; and problems in other unspecified sectors. The Communist Party newspaper Granma reported that Murillo said the energy problems will require strict savings and efficient use of energy and fuels.

The goal of the measures is to "avoid blackouts for the population and hits to basic services," Granma quoted him as saying.
Some Cubans who work for the government are now being told to go home early to save energy.
A senior official at the Center for Marti Studies, part of the Culture Ministry, said the workday now ends at 12:30 pm and employees must turn off air conditioning units by 11:30 am. The official, who was not authorized to discuss the issue publicly and agreed to talk about it only on condition of anonymity, said the policy took effect July 1 and will be in place through the end of August, spanning the two hottest months of the year when power consumption typically spikes. The official said each government entity is making its own decisions about how best to save energy.

Phone calls by the AP to other ministries to ask about their hours of operation revealed that a shortened workday is not in place across all government entities. Bank and currency exchange house workers said their vehicle fuel allotments had been cut and they are using air conditioning just three hours during the eight-hour workday.
Some government workplaces have suspended bus service for employees and reassigned drivers to other tasks.
There have been rampant rumors and concerns about belt-tightening recently among Cubans, fed by sporadic power outages and a lack of official information before Murillo's comments.