Blackout leaves 5000 without power

INVESTIGATIONS are continuing after a power cut on Wednesday evening left about 5000 homes in west Bundaberg without electricity for nearly two hours.

Dozens of businesses including restaurants and hotels lost out on trade, and the Bundaberg Hospital and Bundaberg Police Station were both forced to rely on generators.

The blackout also caused traffic mayhem, with several sets of traffic lights on Bundaberg’s busiest streets rendered useless as commuters left work.

Ergon Energy corporate communications manager Rod Rehbein said further tests would be carried out to understand the unusual circumstances that caused the power cut.

“An initial fault was detected on a feeder from one of the transformers at the west Bundaberg substation about 4.20pm, but that was automatically restored,” he said.

“While that fault caused minimal direct inconvenience to customers on its own feeder, crews suspect it played a role in the power supply to all of the customers supplied from the other transformer at the substation being interrupted simultaneously.”

Mr Rehbein said Ergon crews progressively restored power to all customers by 6.15pm.

“The feeder that experienced the initial fault and a feeder supplied from the other transformer are ‘tied’ at one point and that will be a focus of the ongoing investigation,” he said.