Henan power supply officials plunge county into darkness after drunken KTV brawl

Thousands of homes and businesses in a Henan county experienced a six-hour blackout after the boss of a local power supply station followed through on a drunken threat to cut off electricity to half of the county.

According to the official Xinhua News Agency, a group of staff working for a local power supply station run by state-owned power giant State Grid Corporation were out drinking at a karaoke bar in Qixian county on November 2.

After buying and consuming several bottles of expensive liquor and crates of beer, the group demanded another round on the house. When staff at the bar refused, the power station posse began smashing up the room.

Ignoring attempts by staff to stop them, one of the drunken power company employees then threatened to unleash the wrath of the “electric tiger” – a popular reference to the powerful state-run electricity supply system – by cutting off power to the establishment.

“Then we’ll see how you can make money,” one of the group reportedly said.

Bar staff said a man claiming to be a director of the power supply station surnamed Wang was heard saying over the phone that the area had experienced power failures and needed to be shut down while repairs were carried out.