Pune, 7th September 2026: A technical fault at the Maharashtra State Electricity Transmission Company’s (MSETCL) 220 kV Chinchwad substation triggered an explosion and fire at around 12.25 pm on Sunday (September 6). Officials said the explosion occurred in a 22 kV current transformer (CT) and circuit breaker, causing flames and thick smoke.
The incident disrupted electricity supply across large parts of Pimpri-Chinchwad and several areas of Pune.
Around 2.6 lakh consumers in Pimpri-Chinchwad and 50,000 consumers in Pune were affected. Areas including Pradhikaran, Ravet, Kalewadi, Wakad, Pimple Gurav, Pimple Nilakh, Sangvi, Punawale, Tathawade, Nigdi, Chinchwad and Mamurdi faced power cuts. In Pune, the affected areas included Shivajinagar, Aundh, Ganeshkhind, Senapati Bapat Road, Model Colony and the Balgandharva Rangmandir area.
Power supply to several parts of Pune began returning after 3 pm, while parts of Thergaon received electricity by around 7.30 pm. However, parts of Nigdi and Chinchwad continued to face disruptions late into the night. MSETCL Chief Engineer Anil Bharsakale said the exact cause of the incident was not immediately known.
“A technical fault occurred at the Chinchwad substation, leading to the fire. The exact cause is not yet known. Fortunately, the transformer was not damaged. An independent technical investigation will be conducted,” Bharsakale said.
The power failure also affected Metro’s Purple Line, disrupting services between District Court and Pimpri-Chinchwad. Eight Metro trains were stranded for around 22 minutes after the power supply failed. Escalators and other electrical systems at some stations were also temporarily affected.
Metro officials activated an alternative power supply from the Vanaz substation at 12.47 pm, allowing the stranded trains to resume operations safely. Power to the stations was restored by around 1.06 pm, bringing the electrical equipment back online.
The outage also affected charging facilities for PMPML electric buses. Around 70 e-buses could not be operated because they could not be charged, disrupting public transport services in parts of the city.
The disruption also affected the 132 kV substations at Talegaon and Ambethan in Chakan. MSEDCL restored power to domestic consumers in Talegaon through an alternative line from Khopoli. However, technical limitations delayed restoration for industrial consumers.
At Ambethan, power supply interrupted at 12.25 pm was restored at around 4.20 pm. Around 1,500 industrial units were affected.
The prolonged outage also affected shops and customers during the evening.
Local businessman Mahesh Prajapati said, “The power went out in the afternoon and had not returned until late at night. During the busy hours, we could not show products to customers, and many customers left after looking at the merchandise. The outage affected our business.”
Customer Archana Pachpute said, “I had come to Pimpri Market to buy items needed for Ganeshotsav, but the power outage made it difficult to shop.”
Officials said restoration work continued in the remaining affected areas.