Caracas, Nov 1 (IANS/EFE): A large power outage Wednesday affected two Venezuelan states, Electrical Energy Minister Hector Navarro said.

The blackout, the cause of which is not yet known, "is a significant failure" that reduced by 1 gigawatt the supply of electricity on the interconnected national power grid and affected the states of Lara and Yaracuy, Navarro told state-run TV channel VTV.

He also said that "it would be irresponsible" to speculate about the cause of the outage at this time.

Venezuela, according to electrical energy ministry figures, currently has a power production capacity of about 25 gigawatts.

"In the case of such an important failure as this one, the investigation" that will be conducted will "establish responsibilities, ... whether there was any intention (to cause the blackout) or insufficiency in the mechanisms of supervision, control and maintenance," the minister said.

The blackout in Lara lasted around six hours, a police spokesman told EFE.