In the Nikolassee district of Berlin, power was restored to 1,314 households by 11:35 p.m. On April 18, 2026, after a roughly 90-minute outage that began around 10:00 p.m., marking the second significant disruption to the area in under four months.
The outage echoed January’s prolonged blackout but resolved far more quickly
Stromnetz Berlin GmbH confirmed the disruption affected streets including Kirchweg, Schopenhauerstraße, Von-Luck-Straße, Waldrebensteig, and Wasgenstraße, with the first homes regaining power by 10:40 p.m. And full restoration achieved within 90 minutes. This contrasted sharply with the January outage, which left 45,000 households and over 2,000 businesses without power for days amid freezing temperatures and snow, prompting thousands to seek shelter in hotels.
Police increased patrols in the affected neighborhood during both incidents, citing the necessitate to maintain visibility and reassure residents. In April, authorities stated via their official X account that officers were deployed to be “ansprechbar” and strengthen public feelings of security, echoing their January response when they similarly boosted street presence following the cable bridge arson attack.
The cause remains unknown, as it did after January’s attack
Netzbetreiber spokespersons declined to speculate on the trigger for either outage, offering no technical explanation for the April failure nor confirming any link to the January incident, which prosecutors allege was caused by a left-extremist firebombing of a utility bridge. The federal prosecutor’s office in Karlsruhe has not disclosed how many tips were received in response to the €1 million reward offered for information leading to arrests in the January case, a reward that expired on February 24 without any public breakthrough.
For more on this story, see Berlin Restores Power to 1,314 Nikolassee Households After Evening Outage.
Compensation from the January outage is still being processed
Steglitz-Zehlendorf district officials reported earlier this year that approximately 700 of the more than 2,800 compensation claims submitted after the January blackout had been paid or approved, with the Senate covering costs as pledged during the crisis. No similar compensation framework has been announced for the April outage, given its brevity and limited scope.
Residents face recurring vulnerability despite infrastructure promises
The repetition of outages in the same southwestern sector raises questions about grid resilience, particularly as Berlin’s administration continues to grapple with the aftermath of January’s event — including stalled investigations and ongoing financial restitution — while confronting renewed instability in a zone already marked as fragile.
How long did the April outage last?
Power failed around 10:00 p.m. And was fully restored by 11:35 p.m., lasting approximately 90 minutes, with initial returns beginning at 10:40 p.m.
Was the April outage linked to the January incident?
<!– wp:paragraph />No official connection has been established; the cause of the April disruption remains unknown, and authorities have not confirmed any relationship to the January cable bridge attack, which is still under investigation.
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