Power outage hits many parts of Ho Chi Minh City

At around 7:30 p.m. wards in what were former districts 1, 3, 4, 7, 8, and 10 simultaneously experienced the power cuts.

In Ban Co Ward (former District 3), Thanh, the owner of a local eatery, said the outage occurred during peak business hours, leaving her packed restaurant in disarray.

"It’s been a long time since this area had a blackout. Customers left because they couldn’t wait, and we lost a large amount of revenue."

Locals reported that the outage lasted around half an hour, also disrupting household activities and traffic.

Traffic lights went out at several intersections, leading to congestion.

Luan Quoc Hung, deputy general director of the Ho Chi Minh City Power Corporation (EVNHCMC), said later that the outage was caused by an unusual technical malfunction, which the utility quickly fixed.

On July 30 parts of former districts 3, 4 and 10 had suffered a sudden 30-minute blackout starting at 11:41 a.m.

EVNHCMC had attributed that to an abnormal occurrence at the 220kV substation in the former District 8. It issued a public apology for the inconvenience.

The outages come as HCMC recently absorbed Binh Duong and Ba Ria–Vung Tau provinces and EVNHCMC took over their power utilities and is now responsible for electricity supply across the expanded jurisdiction.