Colombia’s electricity system is confronting a widening gap between supply and demand. National grid operator XM reports that demand rose 6.49% in June 2026 compared with the same month a year earlier, while the firm energy deficit—the shortfall in reliable generation from large hydro and thermal plants—is projected to reach 2.3% this year, up from 1.6% in 2025. Only 331 megawatts of the 4,475 MW of new generation expected in 2026 had entered service by early July, and 60% of transmission projects are behind schedule. The country’s solar and wind expansion cannot yet be classified as firm energy because battery storage systems remain undeveloped. The state meteorological agency Ideam places the probability of an El Niño event at over 95%, with a 63% chance of “very strong” intensity, a scenario that would further strain hydro-dependent generation.

In Mexico, the municipality of Ecatepec has recorded a sharp increase in piped water coverage in its Quinta Zona, from 30% to 85% during the first 500 days of the current administration. Mayor Azucena Cisneros Coss attributes the gain to a historic investment of 1,784 million pesos from federal, state and municipal funds, the reactivation of 24 idle wells and the reperforation of nine collapsed ones, raising total output from 3,597 to 4,340 litres per second. Five strategic projects, including a large potabilisation plant and a 10-million-litre master tank, are scheduled to begin this year. Yet residents of several neighbourhoods, among them Nueva Aragón and Fuentes de Aragón, have staged repeated protests outside the Supreme Court, arguing they have received no clean water since 2020 and that when supply does arrive it is often contaminated. Two constitutional appeals (amparos 13/2026 and 14/2026) await a vote in the court; the mayor says her government is delivering solutions regardless of the rulings, while protesters insist a judicial order is needed to compel coordinated action.

In Iran’s West Azerbaijan province, planned electricity outages in the city of Urmia are compounding public frustration because they occur without prior notice. The “Bargh-e Man” application, developed at considerable expense to communicate schedules, frequently displays incorrect information or no timetable at all, according to local reports. Officials have yet to comment on the app’s performance. The next factual milestones to watch are the Supreme Court of Mexico’s deliberation on the Ecatepec water amparos and the consolidation of El Niño conditions, which will test Colombia’s already tight electricity balance.