First, equipment failed at a substation supplying power at Carlton Hotel yesterday. Then, a fire forced the evacuation of around 1,000 people from the Bras Basah building, while lights went out in parts of Bugis, City Hall, Marina and Somerset.
Shops and restaurants at places such as Chijmes, Plaza Singapura and The Gateway were hit as power was cut off a little after 1pm.
While the trains continued to run, stations on the North East Line - HarbourFront, Outram Park, Chinatown, Clarke Quay, Dhoby Ghaut, Boon Keng and Potong Pasir - were also affected by blackouts.
The power outage, which lasted for 12 minutes from 1.09pm to 1.21pm, was later linked to the fire.
Equipment failure at the electrical substation at Carlton Hotel had led to the power outage and an electricity flashover, or an abnormal electrical discharge. This flashover caused the fire at the hotel.
Yesterday's incident was the second time in two months that a power outage has occurred. Last month, a fire at a substation in Bright Hill led to a power outage which caused electricity cuts in homes in Bishan, Toa Payoh and Shunfu. Lifts and traffic lights in the area were also affected.
SP Group, apologising on its Facebook page to those affected by the latest power outage, said the equipment failure at the substation had occurred even though the equipment had been inspected less than two weeks ago on Feb 1.
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Recent cases
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Jan 26: A faulty voltage transformer started a fire at a substation located in Bright Hill. The incident caused areas in Ang Mo Kio, Bishan, Sin Ming, Toa Payoh and Thomson to lose power. Most affected consumers had power supply restored in about 30 minutes, although a few had to wait 90 minutes. The frequency of checks on the equipment responsible for the incident has since increased.
Sept 18, 2018: When power-generating units of Sembcorp Cogen and Senoko Energy tripped, close to 150,000 residential and commercial customers from Bedok to Jurong were affected. The disruption occurred at 1.18am and electricity supply was restored by 1.56am.
June 1, 2018: Maintenance work by SP Group caused the power supply for Raffles Quay, Robinson Road and Shenton Way to be disrupted. Traffic lights, office buildings and Housing Board blocks were affected. The disruption lasted for about 35 minutes. SP claimed "full responsibility", adding that it will prioritise safety and reliability to prevent a repeat.
"Taken together with the incident at the Bright Hill substation on Jan 26, we will conduct a thorough investigation of both incidents," it added.
The Energy Market Authority is also investigating the incident. "Depending on the outcome of our investigations, we will decide on the appropriate action to take against any party found to be responsible for the disruption," it said. "We apologise for the inconvenience caused."
SBS Transit said the power outage at its North East Line stations was due to a dip in the power grid network, and emergency lights had to be turned on. According to SMRT, some escalators at Dhoby Ghaut and City Hall MRT stations stopped running briefly as well.
Ms Mabeline Chea, manager of Lei Garden in Chijmes, said that at 1.10pm, the lights went out, the air-conditioning stopped working and power for kitchen appliances was cut off, affecting the lunchtime crowd. "The customers were surprised when the lights went out, but they continued eating. Some asked if it was a Valentine's Day prank," she said.
Architectural assistant Christie Lee, who works at The Gateway West, said that almost all the lifts stopped working during the electricity supply cut, along with the lights and air-conditioning.
Power was fully restored at Carlton Hotel only just after 6.30pm.
"Our officers were immediately deployed to the affected areas and our priority is to restore supply as safely and quickly as possible," SP Group said on Facebook at 2.36pm.
The Singapore Civil Defence Force responded to the fire at Carlton Hotel at around 1.15pm.
The fire was contained within the substation on the ground floor of the hotel. No injuries were reported.
Professor Subodh Gautam Mhaisalkar, executive director of the Energy Research Institute at Nanyang Technological University, told The Straits Times that a substation is usually used for regulating voltage, and functions as a node in the power grid.
An interruption or disruption in a substation can result in a domino effect, causing a power surge or service interruption, such as what happened yesterday, he added.
Prof Subodh, however, believes that yesterday's power outage was an isolated incident. "Our power quality and performance in Singapore continue to be very high as compared to most developed countries," he said.
• Additional reporting by Shabana Begum and Joy Pang
