“We are not ruling anything out at the moment, but there is no evidence of any kind of cybersecurity problem. We are keeping a close eye on everything, and the main priority is obviously to restore the electricity system and assess and understand what happened,” Teresa Ribera, the EU executive's head of the Clean, Fair and Competitive Transition portfolio, told the press in Brussels.

According to her, this was ‘one of the biggest failures in the electricity system in recent years’ in the EU.

According to Teresa Ribera, “in the case of Portugal, [the national authorities] disconnected its electricity system from the Spanish system in order to recover it little by little”.

Ribera's statements come after the European Commission said it was in contact with the authorities in Portugal and Spain and with the European network of operators to understand the cause and impact of the massive cut in electricity supply on the Iberian Peninsula.

Plans are being activated to restore the power supply in stages.