UPDATE:
Ergon Energy cut power to Eidsvold at 2:15pm.
The company’s ‘Outage Finder’ website claims 618 people across Eidsvold, Abercorn, Ceratodus, Coonambula, Cynthia, Eidsvold West, Grosvenor, Hollywell, Malmoe, Monto, Mundubbera, O’bil Bil and Wuruma Dam are affected by the outage.
Ergon lists the estimated completion time for the emergency repairs as 5pm.
EARLIER:
Ergon Energy will cut power to the entirety of Eidsvold on Wednesday afternoon after its crews discovered major damage to one of the town’s power lines.
A spokesperson for the electricity company announced an imminent shut-down of the town’s power at 12:30pm on 13 May, describing how a routine maintenance job in Eidsvold spiralled into a full outage.
According to Ergon, when crews attempted to access a power line they discovered its insulator – a component which prevents the current in the lines from flowing into the power pole itself – barely hanging on.
A picture of the scene showed the glass insulator, affixed to a hook and secured via a bolt and nut, screwed into a severely splintered wooden pole.
“This insulator is holding up a power line carrying 66,000 volts, and it’s hanging on by hopes and prayers,” Ergon’s spokesperson said.
The discovery prompted crews to prepare an emergency shut-off of power to the town of Eidsvold in order to repair the broken pole.
“This job is way too dangerous to do live – even for our experienced team – so we will need to turn power off to ensure the crossarm and equipment can be safely replaced,” Ergon’s spokesperson said.
“There’s a real risk of a fire, damage to other network equipment, or the safety of anyone nearby if this [pole] lets go while it’s live,” they explained.
The affected pole carries a line which supplies power to the entirety of Eidsvold.
Ergon planned for the outage to begin at 12:30pm, but as of 1:30pm the company’s ‘Outage Finder’ website has not yet displayed a service interruption in the town.
A spokesperson for the company said that work on the damaged pole – and the resulting power outage – was set to begin “any time after 1:30pm,” and that crews hope they will be able to restore power to Eidsvold by late afternoon on Wednesday.
