An equipment failure Thursday at a local Pacific Gas and
Electric Co. substation left 2,450 local utility customers without
power for nearly six hours.
An equipment failure Thursday at a local Pacific Gas and Electric Co. substation left 2,450 local utility customers without power for nearly six hours.
“The power loss was caused by an equipment failure right outside the substation in Hollister,” PG&E spokesman Smith said.
He said a piece of equipment malfunctioned that helps regulate energy flow.
“Because it was so close to the substation, it affected the entire circuit,” Smith said. “We had to transfer power while we worked on the switch.”
The widespread outage covered an area from the southern edge of Hollister to Pinnacles National Monument and also affected a section of homes and businesses along Highway 25 just north of the city. A number of businesses near the Hollister Municipal Airport also lost power, Smith said.
The outage did not affect the central sections of Hollister.
Power was lost at 2:05 p.m. Thursday. A large number of utility customers got their power back by 6 p.m., Smith said. All residential power was restored by 8:15 p.m., he said.
A number of businesses were affected, such as Hollinet.com, the area’s primary local Internet service provider. The outage caused an interruption in both Internet access and e-mail service. Hollinet officials could not be reached for comment this morning.
