Ecuador imposes 7th power outage; 9,000+ businesses must cut grid demand to zero

Ecuador's grid operator has ordered high- and medium-voltage consumers to reduce demand to zero until October 20, marking the seventh consecutive outage. The measure affects over 9,000 businesses nationwide, indicating a severe and sustained electricity supply crisis. The cause is not stated, but the prolonged nature suggests systemic generation or transmission failures, with significant economic disruption likely.