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![]() ESSEN, Germany (AFP) Dec 06, 2005 RWE, Germany's leading electricity supplier, said Tuesday it had commissioned an independent report to determine the exact causes of the power outages that left hundreds of thousands of people without heating during the freak winter weather last week. "The report will serve as a basis for discussions with politicians and the energy network authorities," RWE said in statement. But the power giant again blamed the "extreme weather" for the outages that left up to 250,000 people without electricity and heating in and around the city of Muenster in the north west of the country. In some areas, it was four days before power was switched back on, with critics pointing the finger at RWE's poorly maintained pylons and power lines, which buckled under the heavy snow and strong winds. RWE has repeatedly denied responsibility and said on Tuesday that it invested two billion euros (2.3 billion dollars) each year in the upkeep of its networks. RWE said that preliminary estimates put the damage for companies in the affected region at "more than 35 million euros". But the regional chamber of commerce estimated the damage could run to more than 100 million euros. All rights reserved. � 2005 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.
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