From about 1:45 am on Monday morning a large power outage in the city of Reutlingen cut the power to thousands of homes. According to grid operator, Netze BW, the Reutlingen-West substation was affected. Five and a half hours later, about half of the approximately 20,000 affected customers were supplied with power again. Meanwhile, the German Press Agency has reported that arson appears to be a probable cause of the power outage. Evidence of three fires had been found at the affected power substation, according
to the grid operator, and the fence at the power plant was also damaged. A spokesman for the Baden-Württemberg State Criminal Police Office (LKA) said the police were investigating all possibilities. LKA fire experts are involved in the investigations, which is common for cases of this size. Around 10,000 customers were without electricity as of Monday morning at around 9 am. A police spokesman told Bild that critical facilities such as hospitals and retirement homes are also affected by the outages, and that telephone and
internet access in the area is limited. The incident is reminiscent of a suspected arson attack on the power supply of a Berlin technology park. After the attack on two electricity pylons on September 9th, 2025, around 50,000 private households and around 2,000 commercial enterprises were temporarily affected by a power outage. Another attack on power cables in Berlin was carried out on January 3rd. It lasted even longer than the one in September. READ ALSO: Just how vulnerable is Germany’s infrastructure to attacks and
sabotage? With reporting by DPA.
Reutlingen, power outage, Netze BW, Reutlingen-West substation, arson, LKA, sabotage, hospitals, retirement homes, telecommunications limited, Berlin power attacks