A suspected arson attack on critical power infrastructure has left tens of thousands of Berlin residents and businesses without electricity, in an incident authorities are describing as particularly serious.
Widespread Disruption and Police Investigation
The major power outage began in the early hours of Saturday, 3 January 2026, after a fire damaged cables on a bridge in the Lichterfelde area. Police have launched an investigation on suspicion of arson, deploying around 160 officers to the scene.
Grid operator Stromnetz Berlin confirmed the fire caused extensive damage, interrupting supply to large parts of the city's southwest, including the districts of Steglitz and Zehlendorf. The company warned that repairs "will take a very long time".
Scale of the Crisis and Community Impact
Berlin's Senator for Economic Affairs, Franziska Giffey, stated the outage is affecting tens of thousands of households and businesses. Estimates suggest between 45,000 and 50,000 homes and 2,000 commercial properties are without power.
The blackout has impacted vital services, including care facilities, hospitals, and social institutions. Police used vans with loudspeakers to urge residents in the affected zones to stay with friends or relatives if possible and to ensure they had torches.
Public transport felt the effects, with train stations experiencing failures in electronic information signs and ticket machines, although services continued to run. Locals captured images of residential tower blocks and streets plunged into complete darkness, with car headlights providing the only illumination.
Restoration Timeline and Challenging Conditions
Stromnetz Berlin has provided a staggered timeline for restoring power. They anticipated that the Berlin-Lichterfelde area would see supply return late on Saturday evening, 3 January. However, full restoration for all customers is not expected until the afternoon of Thursday, 8 January 2026.
Reports indicate that the ongoing cold weather is further hindering the complex repair efforts, complicating work for engineers on the ground.
The incident in Berlin follows closely on the heels of a major power failure in Moscow, which Russian authorities blamed on alleged Ukrainian drone strikes—a claim Ukraine has dismissed as baseless.
