It seems that orange isn’t the new black anymore, as a new term has taken the country by storm.

BlackOut (not to be confused with ZoukOut, though both are admittedly pretty ‘dark’)

Indeed, with a steady spate of blackouts ‘terrorising’ the country of late, it has proven to be an especially dark time for Singapore.

What’s more; it has shown no signs of slowing down, with one occurring just yesterday (23 September).

Read Also: S’porean Did Parody of Nas Daily Video With Another Perspective of S’pore

But if there’s any consolation, this latest blackout, contrary to the last one with a more wide-spread devastation, is confined to just one area:

Plaza Singapura.

Meanwhile Sunday shoppers be like…

1. What happened?

Long story short; around 80 shops at Plaza Sing were forced to operate in the dark in the morning and early afternoon on Sunday (23 Sep), after a planned electrical shutdown took longer than expected.

Additionally, there was no air-conditioning until the evening.

And with Singapore’s weather being so infamously humid, one can’t help but wonder how the tenants actually tahan the whole day.

2. Electrical shutdown

According to a CapitaLand memo that was issued to tenants at The Atrium @ Orchard, the shopping mall management had arranged an electrical shutdown for maintenance purposes from 11:30 p.m. on 22 Sep to 8:00 a.m. on 23 Sep.

Which is when the mall is closed.

During that period of time, no electricity will be supplied to store premises and common areas.

Tenants with frozen food and perishable items were meanwhile advised to seek alternative measures.

However, it seems that despite the given time period, the scheduled electrical shutdown turned out to be less ‘planned’ than the management originally thought. Or in other words;

There was a cock-up.

3. Why?

In response to a query from Channel NewsAsia, General Manager of Plaza Singapura June Ang expressed that an “unforeseen delay” had caused the power supply to return (albeit gradually) from 2:15 pm onwards.

“The lights were fully restored by 2.40 p.m. while the air-conditioning was progressively switched on from 6.40 p.m.,” she said.

“We have been providing regular updates to the tenants since this morning and also deployed our team to advise shoppers. We apologise for any inconvenience caused to the affected tenants and shoppers, and will continue to provide assistance where required.”

Incidentally, it was only at 8:30 p.m. that air-conditioning was fully restored.

Honestly speaking, between lights and air-condition, I’ll choose air-conditioning instead.

4. ‘Casualties’

It seems that the ‘blackout’ really took its toll too.

Business development manager of Arteastiq and Cajun on Wheels, Teo Jia Min, stated that the disruption had affected both outlets, with the ice cream being the biggest victims here.

Because as we all know, ice-cream needs air-conditioning more than us.

Additionally, a beauty and wellness outlet had to cancel some customers’ appointments, as the shop’s equipment required power to operate. A retail outlet also had to turn away customers, as purchases could not be processed.

…

5. Financial casualties

Unfortunately, the ice-cream isn’t the only thing melting, as ‘elsewhere’, the revenue’s facing some serious heat too.

“Tenants can expect a massive loss in sales as it is Sunday, the busiest day of the week,” Teo said.

“Tenants also have to pay staff salaries, food spoilage from the non-functioning freezers and chillers. CapitaLand has not given any indication on whether compensation will be given for the day’s rental.”

Well, now we know why people shop online #justsaying

6. Tight control

Despite the complications, it seems that Capitaland wasn’t keen on letting its tenants off for the day. According to Ms Teo, the real estate company had not allowed its tenants to close for the day and had instead instructed them to be on standby.

Hmm…

Sounds like army life to me.

(Article continues below) Xing Xing is a 34-year-old Singaporean lady who decides to meet up with an online friend she found in Facebook. But it turns out that he’s not what he seems to be: Prepare boxes of tissue and watch the saddest Singapore Facebook love story here:

(Since you’re here, subscribe to our YouTube Channel for more informative videos lah)

7. Recent black outs

As I mentioned above, this isn’t the first blackout in months or anything. Not by a long shot. In fact, less than a week ago, a whopping 19 estates were affected by a severe power outage, with the likes of Boon Lay, Clementi and Jurong in the list of fallen victims.

You can check out this article my bubble colleague did for more information.

8. Singapore

Being the ‘almost perfect country,’ one would expect Singapore to be above such minor things as blackouts.

But it seems that just like its citizens…

You really can’t praise it. 😉

After all, lest you’re not aware, in other countries, blackouts wouldn’t have made it to the news.

Only in Singapore would it be considered news-worthy.

Nas Daily would agree #justthinking

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