A BLACKOUT which affected thousands of homes and businesses and caused traffic chaos in the Tamworth CBD was caused by maintenance crews working on one of the city’s major substations.
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More than 8000 homes and businesses were plunged into darkness about 10.30am yesterday, with traffic lights blacked out as police officers scurried to busy intersections to direct motorists. Shopkeepers were armed with torches in an effort to keep customers walking through the doors while some major retail chains waited for their generators to kick in.
The outage was widespread from East to West Tamworth and out towards Calala but power was back on to those affected by 11am.
Essential Energy regional manager Ben Williams said power was lost from the East Tamworth zone substation where local crews were onsite carrying out maintenance.
“ As the crews were completing the maintenance works, the power supply was inadvertently interrupted for a short period. We apologise for any inconvenience caused by this morning’s interruption,” he said.
