Tens of thousands of homes in Berlin will be without electricity until Thursday as authorities struggle to repair power cables seriously damaged in a suspected arson attack, officials said. Some may also be without heating as the outage has affected local systems, at a time when the German capital is blanketed in snow and temperatures are hovering around freezing.
Emergency services were alerted early Saturday that several high-voltage cables on a bridge near a power plant had gone up in flames. Firefighters quickly extinguished the blaze, but about 45,500 households and 2,200 businesses in districts in southwest Berlin were left without power, according to grid operator Stromnetz Berlin.
The extensive damage means that around 35,000 households will be without electricity until Thursday afternoon, Berlin authorities said in a statement. Power should be restored to other homes by early Sunday. "We are dealing with a particularly serious power outage affecting tens of thousands of households and businesses, including care facilities, hospitals, numerous social institutions, and companies," said Franziska Giffey, Berlin senator for economic affairs.
The local district heating system, which transports heat around a pipe network in the area, is affected as it is powered by electricity. Stromnetz Berlin warned that repair work "will take a very long time", with media reports saying that cold weather was hindering efforts to lay new underground cables. Police deployed about 160 officers to the site of the incident in the Lichterfelde area and said they were "investigating on suspicion of arson".
They drove vans equipped with loudspeakers through the affected areas, urging residents to stay with friends or relatives elsewhere if possible, use mobile phones sparingly and ensure they have torches at hand. Local train stations were impacted, with electronic information signs and ticket machines not working, although the trains were still running.
Giffey said Saturday's outage was worse than one in September, when tens of thousands were also left without power in Berlin after a blaze hit electricity pylons. Police also suspected arson in that case, and an unnamed anarchist group claimed responsibility online for starting the blaze. Germany has been on high alert for sabotage activities directed at its infrastructure, including from foreign actors such as Russia.
Update: January 4, 2026 - 11:38
Authorities say the large-scale power outage that hit southwest Berlin and affected tens of thousands of households was deliberately caused using incendiary devices. “It is clearly an intentional act,” Berlin’s Senator for Economic Affairs Franziska Giffey (SPD) said on Sunday in the German capital. According to Giffey, the affected cable bridge on the Teltow Canal had been “fitted with incendiary devices.” In total, five high-voltage cables and ten medium-voltage cables were destroyed or damaged “by several incendiary devices.”
The outage has impacted the southwestern Berlin districts of Nikolassee, Zehlendorf, Wannsee, and Lichterfelde. Police are currently examining the authenticity of a claim of responsibility that has surfaced.
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