Residents surprised by extent of blackout at so many housing estates

SINGAPORE — Some were in the middle of work or were surfing the Internet, while others who were asleep woke up perspiring because the fans or air-conditioners stopped operating.

Residents called the hotline of their town council’s essential maintenance services unit, but most could not get through.

Those who took to social media via their mobile phones went to utility provider SP Group’s Facebook page and left messages. That was when they found out the problem was not just within their estates — it affected many more parts of the island.

For most of the residents contacted by TODAY, they did not expect the pre-dawn blackout on Tuesday (Sept 18) to be so widespread.

Jurong West resident Farrah Mustapha, 33, an administrative executive, said: “I was quite surprised how many estates went without power. What is going on?”

The Energy Market Authority said in a statement on Tuesday that it took a “serious view” of disruptions to Singapore’s electricity supply. “We will review the outcome of our investigation before deciding on the actions to take,” it added.

The massive blackout, which started at 1.18am, was preliminarily traced to a partial loss of supply from two power generation units.

The outage affected nearly 147,000 households and businesses, in Boon Lay, Chua Chu Kang, Clementi, Jurong, Pandan Loop, Aljunied, Geylang, Tanjong Rhu, Mountbatten, Kembangan, Bedok, East Coast, Ang Mo Kio, Bishan, Thomson, Mandai, Admiralty, Sembawang and Woodlands.

SP Group said that even though power was restored at 1.56am — about 40 minutes later — some of its customers continued to experience disruption to their power supply. This was because they needed to reset their buildings’ electrical internal network.

BACKUP GENERATORS AT HOSPITALS

At least two hospitals — Ng Teng Fong General Hospital and Jurong Community Hospital, both located in Jurong East — had a “partial power outage”, but their backup generators kicked in swiftly and operations were unaffected, they said.

A 24-hour Giant supermarket near Admiralty MRT Station said that power was restored fairly quickly, with no impact on its frozen products.

Four of NTUC FairPrice’s 24-hour supermarkets were affected by the blackout, with customers escorted out “without incident”, its spokesperson told TODAY, though it did not name the outlets.

“Safety protocols and procedures are also in place in the event of a blackout to ensure temperature-sensitive products remain wholesome for consumption.

“If necessary, refrigerated products are transferred from the store back to the distribution centre, and we will dispose of foodstuff that have been deemed not to be wholesome.”

The supermarket chain said that because the power disruption on Tuesday was brief, temperature levels in their refrigeration units remained within the limits of food safety standards.

In Jurong West, housewife Angela Tham, 46, felt something amiss at around 1.30am when she woke up “feeling very warm and stuffy”.

Realising that it was a blackout, she soon noticed that the blocks around hers were dark as well. It felt like another 10 minutes or so before power was finally restored, Ms Tham said, adding that she made a quick check in her refrigerator and found that nothing had turned bad.

Mr Asyraf Ismail, 25, a digital executive, said that he had to keep his younger siblings cool by fanning them with a handheld fan as they slept.

Sales manager Yong Kah Keat, 40, who lives in Bedok, was doing work on his laptop when the blackout occurred. There was no Wi-Fi or electricity, so he had to stop work and waited for the power supply to return.

BRICKBATS AND BOUQUETS

In an update on Tuesday evening, SP Group sought the understanding of those affected by the blackout that it could not respond to all queries individually. The company’s Facebook page was inundated with complaints and questions as the day progressed, with its posts on the incident attracting close to 800 comments.

However, there were online users who thanked the company for restoring power fairly quickly, and others chiding those who complained over an incident that lasted such a short while, for example, about ice-cream melting or milk turning bad in their refrigerators at home.

Freelance designer Jessica Woo, 30, told TODAY that she did not realise there was a blackout in her Bedok home. “I slept through it, and only realised it (later in the morning) when my parents talked about it.”

Tuesday’s blackout is the second major power outage here in three months. Earlier in June, more than 3,000 people were affected by a power outage in the Central Business District which lasted for about half an hour.