A car crashed into electricity network infrastructure on Sunday and put parts of Dubbo in the dark for hours.
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More than 3100 households and businesses had their power supply interrupted on Sunday evening after a car crashed into an Essential Energy padmount substation in Rosella Street, near Plover Close, Essential Energy reported.
Community relations manager for northern David Crough said the accident caused significant damage to the electricity network and by 7.50pm Sunday 3164 customers on the southern side of Dubbo were affected by an unplanned power outage.
“Crews first worked to ensure the safety of the public and their property and then to restore power to as many people as possible,” he said.
“By rerouting power around the damaged electricity infrastructure, crews were able to restore power to 3101 customers by 8.30pm.”
The impact of the accident moved the padmount substation and in doing so also damaged underground power cables.
“Crews undertook work on the electricity network to change its normal design so that power could be restored to a further 38 premises by midday on Monday,” Mr Crough said.
“Power was restored to the remaining 25 premises at approximately 1.50pm Monday afternoon when the work to connect a large generator to the network was complete.”
Given the level of damage caused by the accident to the electricity network, Essential Energy expects it will take a number of days to make permanent repairs which will include replacing the padmount substation and fixing underground power cables.
Padmount substations convert high voltage electricity into a level which can be safely used in homes and businesses.
“We thank customers for their patience while crews worked to restore power after the accident,” Mr Crough said.