The following is a statement from the Fiji Electricity Authority chief executive officer Hasmukh Patel

At 10:39am yesterday (Wednesday May 3, 2017) the 132,000 volts Wailoa to Cunningham, Suva transmission line tripped, isolating the electricity supply to entire Viti Levu customers.

The power outage was caused by a fault which was established to have occurred 46km from the 132kV Wailoa Substation on the 132kV transmission line to Cunningham Road Substation.

A team comprising FEA employees and an overseas contractor was  working on transmission tower no. 117 at Waibau and they reported, a severe lightning strike on the transmission line approximately five towers towards Wailoa from where they were working. The lightning strike was of such a severity that the FEA team and the overseas contractor had to immediately suspend their work for safety reasons.

Electricity supply to all the customers was fully restored by 1:10pm. The Authority sincerely apologises for all inconvenience caused.

Source: Fiji Electricity Authority

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