Taiwan suffers massive power cut, affecting millions of households

[TAIPEI] Taiwan suffered a massive power blackout on Tuesday that hit businesses and residential homes, affecting close to seven million households, the government said.

The power outage was caused by a human technical error at state-owned CPC Corporation, which supplies gas across Taiwan, and ultimately affected the operations of a state-owned Taiwan Power Company power plant in northwestern Taoyuan, spokespersons from CPC Corporation and Taiwan Power Company said at a press conference on Tuesday evening.

Taiwan Power Company's outage at its Taoyuan plant caused six generators to stop working, resulting in a massive blackout across Taiwan, according to a Taiwan Power Company spokesperson.

Around seven million homes were expected to be affected throughout Tuesday evening, representing about half the number of all Taiwan households, during a power ration, a Taiwan Power Company spokesperson said.

CPC Corporation said at the press conference it accepted responsiblity for the power outage and it is currently further investigating the cause of the outage.

Taiwan's Minister of Economics Affairs Chih-Kung Lee offered to resign on Tuesday as a result of the blackout, the government said in a separate statement Tuesday night. Premier Lin Chuan verbally accepted Lee's resignation, it added.

Lee's formal resignation letter is expected later this week, the government said. If Lee steps down as expected, he will do so just over a year after assuming office.

The power blackout that swept Taiwan on Tuesday was the most severe since the 1999 Jiji earthquake, according to a Taiwan Power company spokesperson.

The government said it expected to resolve the power blackout within hours of its occurence on Tuesday.

REUTERS