Blackout affects southern part of Santiago amidst energy shortage

To see international photos, click here

SANTIAGO.-  A power outage attributed to an electrical failure briefly affected several neighborhoods in the southern part of Santiago on Wednesday. The blackout comes amidst fears of electrical rationing due to a decrease in reservoir water levels and shortage of natural gas for energy generation.

According to statements received by Reuters from a Chilectra spokesperson, the power outage began just before 8:00 AM due to a failure in the energy distribution company’s high tension electrical lines and affected six municipalities within Santiago. 

“We still don’t know what caused it, but our technicians are investigating.  In any case, the supply of electricity has resumed in the areas that were affected”, he assured.

The blackout comes at the start of a 10% voltage reduction plan that is being implemented throughout the country as one measures recently announced by the government to reduce the amount of electricity consumption and avoid a rationing scenario.

Nevertheless, the spokesperson for Chilectra has denied that there is any link between the outage and the voltage reduction.