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After Weekend Power Cuts, Berlin Grid Operator Reasserts Reliability

The operator says outage frequency remains within long‑term norms.

Overview

  • Recent weekend outages affected parts of Wedding and Neu-Hohenschönhausen, and about 700 households in Mitte lost power on Sunday evening.
  • Stromnetz Berlin reports roughly 1,900 to 2,000 supply interruptions per year based on averages from the past decade or two.
  • The company says the average household in 2024 experienced less than nine minutes without electricity.
  • More than 90% of disruptions are linked to excavation damage to underground cables and to cable aging and insulation fatigue, with some faults appearing later as moisture penetrates unnoticed damage.
  • Most incidents are resolved quickly through remote network switching, whereas genuine cable faults require on‑site digging and repairs; the January 3–7 outage that hit about 50,000 households is attributed to arson and treated as an outlier.