Power restored to Maldivian capital after near four-hour outage

Power has been restored to all parts of Male’ City and Hulhumale’ after an outage that lasted nearly four hours.

The outage hit the populous Maldivian capital at around 12:00 pm Saturday.

The State Electric Company (STELCO) began restoring power gradually an hour later, and at 03:32 pm, announced the full restoration of electricity to the capital.

The utility service asked any customer still facing power disruptions to call the company’s emergency hotline 104 or call center 1545.

“We apologize for the inconvenience due to the disruption in electricity services,” said the company.

މާލެއާއި ހުޅުމާލެއިން ކަރަންޓުގެ ހިދުމަތް މެދުކެނޑިފައިވާ ހުރިހާ ސަރަހައްދަކަށް މިހާރު ވަނީ އަލުން ކަރަންޓު ދެވިފައި. އެއްވެސް ސަބަބަކާ ހެދި ކަރަންޓުގެ ހިދުމަތް ނުލިބޭނަމަ އަޅުގަނޑުމެންގެ އެމަރޖެންސީ ހޮޓްލައިން 104 ނުވަތަ ކޯލް ސެންޓަރ 1545 ކަށް ގުޅުއްވާ. ކަރަންޓުގެ ހިދުމަތް…

— STELCO (@STELCOMALDIVES) May 23, 2026

STELCO, which initially attributed the outage simply to “a technical issue”, later confirmed that the disruption was linked to a systems upgrade carried out at the Hulhumale’ power plant earlier on Saturday.

The outage had hit an hour after STELCO announced that it had managed to avoid cutting off power to any part of Male’ City or Hulhumale’ as it carried out the upgrade.

“Power interruptions in parts of Malé and Hulhumalé were caused by an issue encountered after a planned system upgrade at the Hulhumalé 50MW power plant, resulting in the temporary shutdown of generating units,” said STELCO in a statement.

“The upgrade was necessary to improve long-term system reliability and stability,” added the company.

The outage came amid frequent outages in the capital in recent weeks - mostly attributed to damage to cables, with STELCO working quickly to fix the issues and restore power.

However, the outage on Saturday is reminiscent of a total blackout in the capital last year, that left tens of thousands of people who live there without power for nearly six hours.

The blackout on June 1 prompted President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu to order a police investigation. However, the findings of this investigation were never publicly disclosed.