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| A supermarket looted during a power blackout in Santiago on Saturday |
Four of the South American nation’s 15 regions - including the Santiago capital area of more than 6mn people - lost power at around 8:30pm (2330 GMT).
In total, nearly 10mn of Chile’s 17mn people were affected.
Power had mostly been restored late Saturday, Energy Minister Rodrigo Alvarez told reporters.
Chile’s emergency services said the cause of the problem with the national power grid was not immediately clear.
City officials in Santiago said there was no evidence of sabotage.
There were no immediate reports of related injuries.
The blackout ground the capital’s subway system to a halt, cut off cellular phone service and forced the delay of a concert by Puerto Rican pop star Ricky Martin. The show later went on, once power generators were up and running.
Police fanned out to major intersections across the city to help direct traffic, as nearly all signals were out.
A mob of about 200 looters ransacked a supermarket in the Santiago suburb of Quilicura, a police official told TVN public television.
The looters clashed with police, and one youth suffered a gunshot wound to the leg. A 26-year-old man was arrested at the scene.
The last massive blackout hit Chile in March 2010, affecting 80% of the population.
Authorities said the national power grid would remain unstable for at least two years after the 8.8-magnitude earthquake in February 2010 that rocked Chile and killed more than 500 people.