Germany 'not only cause' of Europe blackout 06/11/2006 00:00

BERLIN, Nov 6, 2006 (AFP) - Germany's biggest power supplier insisted on Monday that it was not the sole cause of the electricity cut that plunged parts of western Europe into darkness at the weekend.

E.ON confirmed it had switched off an electricity line over the river Ems in western Germany on Saturday to allow a cruise ship to pass through without danger, but said the problems on the European electricity grids happened too late for that to have been the only factor.

"That alone cannot explain the problem. The disturbances only occurred half an hour after the shutoff," E.ON spokesman Christian Schneller told Bayerischer Rundfunk radio.

E.ON chairman Klaus-Dieter Maubach rejected suggestions that under-investment in the network in Germany — home to 82 million people — was to blame for the power cut, as suggested by Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel.

"The networks are in good condition," he said.

The power outage left 10 million people — half of them in France — in the dark and cold.

Copyright AFP

Subject: French news