me-tro-12

Huge power outage in Paris: 170,000 households affected and transport disrupted

undefined undefined 20 novembre 2025 undefined 12h00

The Editor

© Jagoda Bartus / Le Bonbon

This Thursday, November 20th, at the crack of dawn, just when the sun was struggling to peek out, the southern part of the capital and some areas of Hauts-de-France experienced a major power outage. By midday, some of the affected households were still without electricity, and public transport in Paris was experiencing significant disruptions.

Waking up in winter—almost, considering the temperatures, we hope you won't hold it against us for the mix-up—isn't easy, and if on top of that, you open your eyes to find there's no light, it's the cherry on top! Sadly, this is the situation that at least 170,000 households experienced, located in the south of Paris and around Issy-les-Moulineaux. Unfortunately, it wasn't the only struggle many faced.


A blackout still ongoing

We can only imagine the surprise this morning for the hundreds of thousands of households that lost power. The incident occurred around 6:40 AM and lasted a few minutes. This first outage was followed by a second one around 8 AM, affecting this time...i 55,000 households. And even if it's half as many, it's still very important. Just before lunch, 2,500 homes were still without electricity, and the RTE teams, who manage the electricity transmission network, were out in the field trying to find the source of the problem and, above all, resolve it as quickly as possible.


A metro line hit hard

Beyond the obvious concern of the electricity outage for everyone involved, another problem has been added to the list. Indeed, this area in the Paris region is unfortunately crossed by line 12, which also experienced the outage. As a result, around 7 AM, traffic was completely interrupted along the entire line. Since then, trains have partially resumed operation, but traffic remains heavily affected, as in addition to the electricity problems, there’s now an issue of overcrowding on the line, which is significantly disrupting the network. Here’s hoping that everything gets resolved quickly!