Title: New Year’s Blackout: Residents of Sofia’s "Benkovski" Quarter Left in the Dark for Hours
Residents in Sofia’s "Benkovski" quarter ushered in 2025 with an unexpected and prolonged power outage, leaving them in the dark and cold for nearly 18 hours.
"What a way to start the New Year," recounted a local resident. "We were all in high spirits, and suddenly at 21:30, all the lights went out. It was horrible. We didn’t know when the power would be restored."
The power was momentarily restored around 22:30, only to go out again at 15:30 the next day, leaving residents stranded without electricity and heat. Many of the affected residents sought refuge with family and friends, while others continuously reported the outage.
In a statement sent to bTV, the power distribution company attributed the blackout to damage on two underground cables. However, some locals are questioning why a seemingly local issue took so long to resolve.
"A small-scale problem like this should have been fixed in hours, not nearly a day," said another resident. "I wonder what would happen if there was a larger-scale national problem. This isn’t the first time we’ve had issues with the old cable; it happened around Christmas two years ago as well."
The residents of "Benkovski" quarter hope that the power company will find a permanent solution to prevent such incidents in the future.