Hundreds without power for 'most of the day' as crews work to fix fault

Essential Energy said a fault within a substation on Yenda Avenue in Gobbagombalin triggered an outage affecting 3500 of its customers about 7.40am.

The unplanned outage initially affected people in Estella, Boorooma, Gobbagombalin, Cartwrights Hill, Euberta and surrounding areas.

"Network protection equipment activated at 7.39am when a fault was detected on the high-voltage network, isolating supply to the areas," the spokesperson said.

"Crews were dispatched immediately and are currently fault finding on the network. Where no faults are found, crews are progressively restoring power to customers."

At 8.15am, 1179 customers had their power restored, with 1634 remaining without electricity .

Later on Thursday morning, crews were able to isolate the fault and restore power to a further 1161 customers.

However, the spokesperson said 473 customers in Gobbagombalin would be without power until the padmount substation was repaired.

"Whilst our crews will work as quickly as safety allows to repair the network, we anticipate that these customers will be without power for majority of the day," they said.

"An SMS has been sent to customers this morning updating them on the situation.

"Essential Energy thanks the Gobbagombalin residents for the patience and understanding whilst we repair the network."

On Thursday afternoon, the spokesperson said work was continuing to restore power as quickly as possible but, due to the extent of the repairs, specialised equipment needed to be deployed from Dubbo to assist local crews.

"An estimated time of restoration has been set for 10.00pm," they said.

To report a power outage, call 13 20 80 or visit essentialenergy.com.au/outages for updates.