There will be random, rolling cuts to power supply in 12 states on Tuesday night, the National Energy Control Center (Cenace) announced.

The electricity market operator warned residents of Aguascalientes, Colima, México state, Guanajuato, Guerrero, Jalisco, Michoacán, Nayarit, Puebla, Querétaro, San Luis Potosí and Zacatecas that electricity supply will be interrupted between 6:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. Central Time.

Cenace said the blackouts are necessary due to the increase in demand for electricity in the evening and night and the “unavailability of sufficient generation to cover the northern and northeastern regions of the country.”

Some 4.7 million people in Mexico’s north were left without power on Monday morning due to an interruption in the natural gas supply caused by cold weather in the United States, which froze gas pipes. President López Obrador said Tuesday morning that 80% of electricity services had been reestablished, meaning that close to a million people were still without power.

Announcing the cuts scheduled for tonight on Twitter, Cenace urged “all sectors of the population to take pertinent preventative measures” to prepare for the interruption to the electricity supply.

It also called on people to switch off lights they’re not using, disconnect electronic devices that don’t need to be plugged in, close curtains and blinds to conserve heat and reduce or cease nonessential production processes.

“The rolling cuts contribute to the load-generation balance by scheduling controlled interruptions to avoid a greater impact on the interconnected national system,” Cenace said in the last of a series of six Twitter posts.

The energy center also cut electricity supply on a scheduled basis on Monday night to reduce pressure on the national electricity system, with interruptions affecting several states including Morelos, Puebla, Veracruz, Michoacán, México state and Tlaxcala.

Source: Milenio (sp), El Financiero (sp)