Power cut in west France affects 272,000 homes
More than 270,000 households were left without power in the centre-west of France last night (Thursday September 3) after a massive electricity fault in the Indre department.
Households were affected across Haute-Vienne, Creuse, Corrèze (Nouvelle-Aquitaine) and Indre (Centre-Val-de-Loire) for more than two hours, according to network manager RTE.
Haute-Vienne was most affected (with 163,000 households) followed by Indre (54,000), Creuse (53,000) and Corrèze (2,400).
The fault began at 21:26. It was caused by a fault at the electrical substation in Eguzon (Indre).
In several tweets aimed at updating customers on the situation, RTE en Sud-Ouest said that its teams were working with electricity supplier Enedis to “do as much as possible to establish the connection”.
But for more than two hours, residents were plunged into near-total darkness, including in the towns of Limoges (Haute-Vienne) and Châteauroux (Indre).
Some households began to report that their power was back on before 23:00, with RTE confirming “the end of the power cut” at a quarter to midnight (23:44). It apologised to its customers for the “momentary inconvenience”.
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