More than 1700 properties were caught in a mysterious and unexpected power cut in Solway yesterday.
Powerco said that several crews were working to restore power to 1704 customers who had been without power since 3.41pm.
A spokesperson said the cause of the unplanned outage was under investigation and affected customers on sections of Chapel, Dixon, Renall, and Pownall streets as well as properties on South Road and South Belt.
The outage disrupted trading at nearby commercial premises, with Pak’nSave Masterton forced to use cash only.
By 4.30pm a small queue had formed at the store’s working ATM, with a Pak’nSave store manager confirming the eftpos machines were down.
The outage also affected petrol stations along Chapel St, whose signage went out.
An update from Powerco last night confirmed power had been restored.
“It looks like contractors working at a substation accidentally bumped into something, but all our customers were safely reconnected not long after 5pm.”
