Ecuador was re-emerging from darkness on Wednesday after a single transmission fault caused a national blackout. 

The nation of 18 million people was powerless for several hours after the state-owned energy operator CENACE reported a "cascade disconnection" that cut off all power to the national electricity grid around 3.17pm local time. 

The nation's public works and acting energy minister, Roberto Luque, posted on X (formerly Twitter) to confirm that 95 per cent of the country's energy supply had been restored as of Wednesday evening local time. 

Mr Luque said the blackout was the result of a lack of investment in the nation's energy network. 

In April, Ecuadorean President Daniel Noboa declared an energy emergency and announced planned electricity cuts.

Wednesday's outage caused dangerous driving conditions for motorists, as traffic lights ceased working.

Subway services in the country's capital Quito were also interrupted for several hours.

Ecuadorian newspaper El Universo reported that services were still being restored to the city of Guayaquil, with 70 per cent of homes accessing power. 

While the South American country has struggled with a drought affecting hydro-electricity power generation, heavy rains over the weekend forced authorities to take three hydroelectric plants offline.

The weekend rains caused a landslide that killed at least 17 people and left dozens injured. The disaster also prompted Ecuador's private OCP oil pipeline to suspend operations.

ABC/Reuters