Residents plunged into darkness, left stranded after Bishan block suffers power outage for 2 hours

Bishan block power outage comes after residents experience flickering lights for over a week

On Saturday (17 Aug) night, a block in Bishan was plunged into darkness after it suffered a power outage that lasted about two hours.

The incident caused the lifts in the building not to work, stranding some residents downstairs.

Residents complain of blinking lights in their flats on 13 Aug

The power issue was first highlighted in Telegram channel Zone 6 Konnects, set up for the Residents’ Network (RN) of Bishan East Zone 6.

On 13 Aug, a resident said all the lights in their unit blinked a total of three times that evening. Another two residents said that this had been happening in their flats too for the past week.

Later that night, another resident experienced this, confirming that it was happening to a number of residents.

Upon questioning, it became clear that this was happening to residents of Block 157 Bishan Street 13.

A poll was conducted to identify where the problem was, and the majority of residents said it was occurring at Block 157.

Blinking lights occur again over next few days

On 15 Aug, residents were told that the town council had sent an electrician to investigate, and was monitoring the situation.

The same evening that this was said, a few Block 157 residents reported another occurrence of the blinking lights.

On 16 Aug, it happened again, with a Block 157 resident remarking that it seemed to be “getting more frequent”.

In response, an RN representative said it was due to “irregularities in the electrical supply”. The situation may be referred to Singapore Power for further investigation, he added.

That night, the situation appeared to have worsened, with a resident saying the whole block started flickering, including the corridor lights.

Whole Bishan block experiences power outage at 6.30pm

On Saturday morning, a resident reported that the corridor lights in Block 157 were still flickering when she left home.

She also heard the lift alarm had gone off the day before.

Close to 6.30pm, a resident said Block 157 was having a “bad interference in power supply”, with the lift alarm going off.

Other residents then alerted that the electricity for the whole building had been cut off.

Photos sent by an MS News reader showed the block in complete darkness, compared with neighbouring blocks.

The block has a total of 114 units, according to PropertyGuru.

Lifts in Bishan block affected by power outage

The power outage meant the lifts of the 22-storey block could not work.

A resident urged the authorities to do something quickly as many elderly people living on the high floors couldn’t get upstairs.

When MS News was at the scene, several disgruntled residents were seen deep in discussion downstairs. Some used their vehicles’ headlights to illuminate the block.

An elderly couple waiting at the void deck of the block was seen observing as contractors tried to solve the problem.

Some residents within the block could be seen using candles, lanterns and flashlights to brighten their homes.

Some sat outside their flats because it was too hot, while others were observed fanning themselves with cardboard.

More than an hour after the blackout started, impatient residents started wondering when the power would be restored.

They were then told that the Essential Maintenance Services Unit (EMSU), a 24-hour service provided by the town council, was looking into the issue on-site.

Close to 8pm, residents were told that SP Group is looking into this further, and that the matter seems “complex”.

Power restored after two hours

Finally, shortly after SP Services’ arrival, power was restored at almost 8.30pm — two hours after it went out. Residents expressed relief and thanked the RN for their help.

Later, residents were told that no fault was found with the Electrical Distribution Board the night before the blackout.

They had intended to service it next week.

SP Services investigating, says town council

In response to queries from MS News, Bishan-Toa Payoh Town Council said SP Services is currently investigating the incident.

The town council is “pending their updates”, it added.

MS News has also reached out to Bishan East Zone 6 RN for more information.

Also read: Serangoon HDB Block Suffers Power Outage, Residents Use Flashlights & Take Stairs To Get Home

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Featured image from MS News and adapted from Zone 6 Konnects on Telegram.