MORE than 1500 homes across the Central West were plunged into darkness on one of the coldest nights of the year following a widespread blackout on Monday.
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As snow fell on high country around the region, a total of 1519 Essential Energy customers were left without power for almost four hours.
The lights went out at 7.25pm in the affected area that stretched more than 150 kilometres from north-east of Bathurst to south-west of Cowra.
Homes in Orange, Millthorpe, Lucknow and Canowindra were among the affected properties.
Northern regional manager Mark Summers said that as a safety measure, the electricity network automatically switched off the main powerline to the area off after sensing a problem.
Essential Energy received a flood of reports of the supply outage and quickly dispatched crews out into the freezing night to try and solve the problem.
“Our crews were immediately dispatched to carry out a patrol of the power network and discovered a fault on the powerline between Bathurst and Eglinton,” Mr Summers said.
“Once repairs were made, power was restored to all households and businesses at approximately 11.10pm.
“Crews worked as quickly as safety allowed but the freezing cold and rain did make restoration efforts more challenging.”
Mr Summers said Essential Energy understood the difficulties a loss of power caused for homes on Monday night.
“We apologise for the inconvenience caused and thank customers for their understanding as we worked to restore power,” he said.
