Arson suspected in power outage in western German city

Arson is suspected as the cause of a large-scale power outage that hit the western German city of Reutlingen on Monday, according to a spokesman for grid operator Netze BW.

Three fire sites were found at a substation, while the fence and grounds in front of the facility had been damaged, the spokesman said.

Police were investigating all possible causes, a spokesman for the Criminal Investigation Office in the state of Baden-Württemberg said. Arson experts had been brought on board, he added, noting that this was standard procedure for incidents of a certain scale.

The incident is reminiscent of suspected far-left arson attacks in Berlin last year and at the start of 2026 that left thousands of households without electricity for days on end.

Reutlingen is a city of just over 100,000 people, around 40 kilometres south of Stuttgart.

Thousands of customers without power

The Reutlingen-West substation was affected, according to Netze BW. The substation failed at 1:45 am [2345 GMT Sunday], the spokesman said.

Hours later, power had been restored for around half of the approximately 20,000 affected customers of grid operator Fairnetz GmbH.

The Reutlingen area electricity and gas grid operator shares the substation with Netze BW, according to the energy companies. Netze BW was providing administrative assistance to restore power, its spokesman said.

The power outage has caused millions of euros in damages so far, dpa learnt.

It was initially unclear when the remaining parts of the city and surrounding areas would be back on the grid. By Monday morning, some 7,600 households remained without power, according to the city administration.

Echoes of Berlin arson attacks

Last September, an attack on the power supply of a Berlin technology park left around 50,000 private households and 2,000 businesses temporarily without power. 

A further attack on high-voltage cables in Berlin was carried out on January 3, causing the longest outage in the city's post-war history and leaving thousands without power and heating amid subzero temperatures.