ElectraNet confirms transmission services at Yorke Peninsula have been restored

Most households and businesses in the Yorke Peninsula have now had their power restored after a widespread outage caused a day of darkness.

• ‘One in 10-to-15-year event’
• Reason for mass outage revealed

Dubbed as a once in a decade event by SA Power Networks, more than 25,000 households and businesses have had their power restored after a widespread outage across the Yorke Peninsula on Friday.

Owner and operator of SA’s electricity transmission network ElectraNet said they had restored transmission services to the Yorke Peninsula, in a statement released at midnight.

However, there are still two outages affecting around 100 customers at Edithburgh, Honiton, Port Moorowie and Sultana Point.

The outage was restored between 9.15am to 11am on Saturday.

On Friday, SA’s ongoing dry conditions were blamed for the transmission fault that plunged the Yorke Peninsula – and 1000 customers in the Cowell area on the Eyre Peninsula — into darkness.

“ElectraNet experienced multiple faults on the transmission network this morning impacting power supply to the Yorke Peninsula,” a ElectraNet spokesman said.

“Due to extended dry conditions and the accumulation of dust and salt combined with fog conditions this morning, the network experienced multiple trips.”

SA Power Networks workers near Kulpara. Picture: Dean Martin

SA Power Networks map of the unplanned power outages.

The spokesman said “detailed inspections” while completing repair works revealed “more damage than originally thought” which extended the restoration time.

Busy working to restore the damage, businesses suffered in darkness, losing stock, customers, and thousands of dollars.

Help from locals bringing generators, ice and eskys is what saved the Genuine Arthurton Hotel on the Yorke Peninsula from what could have been a more expensive loss, publican Clinton Grocke said.

“I lost some gravy, pineapple and stuff like that that I just didn’t want to risk but fortunately not much else,” he said.

“It probably cost us about $2500 because it was a Friday and we just couldn’t do anything.”

With dry conditions to blame for the outage, Mr Grocke said it needed to rain, and soon, before another event like this happened.

“I’m really hoping it rains, it needs to,” he said.

“But it’s in God’s hands unfortunately.”

The multiple network trips on Friday resulted in some damage to the Hummocks substation, which is still being repaired, the ElectraNet spokesman said.

Around 6.30am on Friday, an SA Power outages map showed 27,000 customers across SA were in the dark – mostly in Yorke Peninsula, and other outages on KI, Cape Jaffa and the Coorong.

By 11am, that number had dipped slightly to just under 26,000.

Telstra Regional Manager, Michael Patterson said phone services were also impacted across the Yorke Peninsula and recommended that customers should access a Wi-Fi connection to make calls, where possible.

Lawyers, doctors and hardwares stores were also shut all day, along with schools that were forced to encourage parents to keep students at home.