POWER RESTORED TO 7,000 BERLIN HOMES AFTER SUSPECTED ARSON ATTACK

BERLIN, Jan 4 (Bernama-dpa) -- Thousands of households in south-west Berlin affected by Saturday's power outage have had their electricity restored since the early hours of Sunday, according to the electricity grid operator, reported German Press Agency (dpa).

"By 3.23 am (0223 GMT) on 4 January, we had been able to restore power to around 7,000 households and 150 businesses in several stages, particularly in the Lichterfelde area," the operator, Stromnetz Berlin announced on its website during the night.

Around 38,000 homes and more than 2,000 business customers remain without power in the Steglitz-Zehlendorf district after the fire damaged a cable link over the Teltow Canal.

Police are investigating a possible arson attack after the state security service responsible for political crimes received a letter claiming responsibility.

The outage hit street lighting, mobile telecoms, traffic lights and supermarket fridges, as well as private households, shutting down heating systems as temperatures hovered around freezing point.

Stromnetz Berlin expects that it will not be possible to restore power to all affected households until Thursday afternoon.

Some 10,000 households in the Lichterfelde district were told on Saturday that they could expect to have electricity restored during the course of the day, but this did not happen initially.

A spokeswoman for Berlin’s Senator for Economic Affairs, Franziska Giffey, said authorities were assuming a malicious act and were checking the letter’s authenticity.

It was not initially known who could be behind the incident. Stromnetz Berlin said the outage resembled a politically motivated attack on two power pylons in September in the city's south-east.

That outage persisted for several days.

--BERNAMA-dpa