Power outage plunges several parts of French capital Paris into darkness

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. The mayor of Paris Centre, Ariel Weil, confirmed the general breakdown on Twitter. 'Power cuts have just taken place in the 4th and 5th arrondissements,' he said. According to broadcaster Franceinfo, Paris firefighters confirmed that citizens had contacted them due to the power cuts in the four regions. Noting that the incident seems to be related to a transformer failure on Enedis' side, firefighters signaled that the situation was improving. Around 125,000 households were affected at the height of the incident, the RTE Group, the manager of the electricity transmission network, said on Twitter.