Power outage plunges parts of Paris into darkness; technical glitch blamed

Several districts of southern Paris were plunged into darkness on Thursday night due to a power outage that French grid operator RTE tied to a technical glitch on an electrical transformer of energy supplier Enedis. (2115 GMT) and power was restored around 11:00 p.m., RTE's division for the region encompassing Paris, Ile de France, said on Twitter.

Several districts of southern Paris were plunged into darkness on Thursday night due to a power outage that French grid operator RTE tied to a technical glitch on an electrical transformer of energy supplier Enedis. The incident comes amid worries that power blackouts could cripple infrastructure in France as the first cold snap of the winter tests the resilience of the power network.

Many streets in Paris's third, fourth, fifth arrondissements were hit by the power cuts around 10:15 p.m. (2115 GMT) and power was restored around 11:00 p.m., RTE's division for the region encompassing Paris, Ile de France, said on Twitter. "Around 125,000 households were affected at the height of the incident," it said.

Government ministers have warned of possible power outages in case of a gap between supply and demand, which they said would last no longer than two hours and be flagged in advance. State-run utility EDF, a parent company of Enedis, is racing to get nuclear reactors hit by corrosion problems back on line.