Capital, other cities in darkness as power outage hits Chile

A massive power outage across Chile plunged the country’s capital Santiago into darkness and knocked out electricity to major copper mines in the country’s north on Tuesday, February 26, 2025.

Hours after the outage began and as darkness fell, Chile’s government announced a state of emergency and established a curfew from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. (0100 to 0900 GMT) from the northern region of Arica to the southern region of Los Lagos.

The widespread blackout was caused by a transmission line failure in the country’s north, Interior Minister Carolina Toha said, ruling out a cyber attack as a cause.

Chile’s largest power cut in years saw streetlights in the capital go dark, while sirens from emergency vehicles blared across the city.

The Santiago metro, which transports millions of passengers, was closed and passengers were evacuated from stalled trains, Reuters reported.

“There’s nothing. There’s no cash. No money. Nothing,” said Jose Luis Orlandini, who was eating in downtown Santiago when the outage hit.

The interior ministry said it was deploying the armed forces across the country to help maintain order.

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As of 10 p.m. about a quarter of the electrical grid’s demand was back on line, and power could be fully restored by morning, said Juan Carlos Olmedo, the board president of Chile’s National Electricity Coordinator (CEN).

In a late night television address to the nation, Chilean President Gabriel Boric said 8 million homes had been affected but power had been restored to about half of them.

“What happened today is outrageous because it’s not tolerable that one or several companies impact the everyday life of millions of Chileans, and that’s why it’s the state’s duty to hold them responsible,” Boric said.

Residents in the neighbourhood of Providencia in the capital erupted in cheers as lights flickered back on.

CEN said it was still investigating the cause of the outage, noting: “We’ve activated several power stations, mainly hydroelectric stations.”

The Star