By JEFF EPSTEIN
[email protected]
CLAREMONT – A fault in a power transmission line caused 2,552 customers of Eversource to lose power Wednesday afternoon, a spokesperson for the utility said.
The outage occurred at 12:41 p.m., affecting some, but not all, of downtown Claremont. Some customers in Cornish, Charlestown and Newport were also affected. In Claremont, Parts of Washington Street, North Street, Pleasant Street and Summer Street were among those without power. City police dropped temporary stop signs at intersections where traffic lights were nonfunctional.
Eversource said it was able to restore electric service to 529 customers in about two minutes, using “smart switch” technology that allows electric service to be re-routed to working lines, said Eversource’s spokesperson Kaitlyn Woods.
As of 2:30 p.m., 2,023 customers were still without power, as the utility hunted for the problem, which it believed to involve a transmission line that runs from Vermont to New Hampshire, she said.
All but a few customers had power back by 3:05 p.m.
Eversource is continuing to investigate the outage, but no cause has been determined, said Woods.
As your daily newspaper, we are committed to providing you with important local news coverage for Sullivan County and the surrounding areas.