August M
Electricity has been restored to thousands of homes in Berlin after a major outage left large parts of the city’s south-west without power. Authorities say the disruption may have been caused deliberately, prompting a security investigation.
Many households and businesses remain affected as repair work continues.
Power partially restored
According to the German News Service, Stromnetz Berlin said electricity was restored to about 7,000 households and 150 businesses in stages during the early hours of Sunday.
“By 3:23 am (0223 GMT) on 4 January, we had been able to restore power to around 7,000 households and 150 businesses in several stages, particularly in the Lichterfelde area,” the network operator said in a statement posted overnight.
The restoration followed a fire that damaged a cable connection crossing the Teltow Canal.
Widespread disruption
Despite the progress, around 38,000 homes and more than 2,000 business customers remain without electricity in the Steglitz-Zehlendorf district, Stromnetz Berlin said.
The outage disrupted street lighting, traffic signals, mobile phone networks and supermarket refrigeration. Many private homes were also affected, with heating systems shutting down as temperatures hovered around freezing.
Residents in parts of Lichterfelde had been told on Saturday that power would likely return during the day, but those repairs were initially delayed.
Suspected sabotage
Police are investigating a possible arson attack after Berlin’s state security service, which handles politically motivated crimes, received a letter claiming responsibility for the fire.
A spokeswoman for Berlin’s Senator for Economic Affairs, Franziska Giffey, said authorities were assuming a malicious act and were examining the letter to determine its authenticity, according to the German News Service.
Officials said it was not yet clear who may be behind the incident.
Repairs to continue
Stromnetz Berlin warned that full restoration will take time. The operator said it does not expect electricity to be returned to all affected households until Thursday afternoon.
The company noted that the outage bore similarities to a previous incident in September, when two power pylons in south-east Berlin were targeted in what was later described as a politically motivated attack. That disruption lasted several days.
For now, emergency crews continue work on the damaged infrastructure as investigators focus on determining whether the fire was deliberate.
Sources: German News Service
