Power cuts sweep across France - midnight GMT

Plunging temperatures in germany with a resulting surge in demand led to the failure of 2 High voltage supply lines in Germany. Electricity outages hit Cologne, Essen and the The Ruhr. Also in Bavaria and Baden Wurtemburg in west and south Germany, where the power was out for up to an hour at around 10:30pm (2130 GMT).

This resulting in cascading cuts which principally hit France with reports of massive power cuts affecting up to 10% of the population with effects reaching parts of Belgium and Italy.

Some five million people in France lost power for up to two hours , hitting 15 Departments mainly in the east of the country including parts of Paris.It was said to be the worst in France for 30 years.

"We weren't very far from a European blackout," said Pierre Bonnard a senior director with French power A company RTE said. Apparently the one hour difference with UK helps separate the peak power load as TV's and heating switched on.

Automatic security systems cut supplies to some customers to avoid a complete blackout.

Italy, Belgium and Spain and even Morroco were also affected by the power cuts.

Fire brigades in France said they had to answer several calls from people stuck in lifts and some High speed rail links were also disrupted.

There are no reports of accidents or fatalities so far.

This demonstrates how finely the production / demand is finely balanced throughout Europe as the industry increasingly relies on lower margins of safety.

BBC