Faults to blame for power outages

MORE than 1600 homes and businesses have had power restored after faults across Cairns caused power outages yesterday.

An Ergon Energy spokeswoman said the power outages weren’t long-lived. Electricity was restored in just a couple of hours.

“The Cairns CBD outage was caused by an underground cable fault,” she said.

“Another outage affecting around 1500 customers at Parramatta Park and Westcourt was caused by equipment damage, which required emergency repairs.

“The electricity supply was restored to all customers in just over an hour.”

Simon Zeng on the wok at Chopstix Chinese Takeaway said he had effectively lost half a day of trade.

“From about 11.30am we have no power, it’s very bad,” he said.

Mr Zeng said others were in the same boat and accepted that nothing could be done to avoid the outage.

Koko Nuitaka of a souvenir shop on the Lake St side of the Orchid Arcade said she could only accept cash sales during the outage. She said two blocks down Lake and Abbott streets were affected.

“There is no use whining, there is nothing you can do about it,” she said.

The Ergon spokeswoman apologised for the outage, saying crews worked as quickly as possible to restore the power.

“We appreciate customers’ patience and understanding, especially in this heat,” she said.