This article is from page 7 of the 2011-10-18 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 7 JPG
AN ESTIMATED 1,200 ESB customers were affected by a power outage, which struck parts of Ennis last week.
The outage occurred at 3.10pm on Thursday and supply was restored to all customers by 4pm. In a statement an ESB spokeswoman explained that the outage occurred when a landowner was cutting a tree on property in Guarus and it fell across an ESB line.
She stated, “An outage occurred at approximately 3.10pm yesterday (Oct 13). ESB Network crews were dispatched. A private landowner was cutting a tree on his own property in Gaurus and it inadvertently fell across an ESB medium voltage line in the area.”
The areas affected were Our Lady’s Hospital and the Gaurus Court Estate and Gaurus Bridge areas.
The spokeswoman added, “Approximately, 1,200 customers were affected. Supply was restored to all customers at 4pm.”
It is the second widespread power outage to hit ESB customers in Ennis in the past three months. An estimated 1,500 homes and businesses were affected by two major power outages in Ennis in July. On that occasion the outages occurred as a result of cable faults in the town centre.
Almost 1,000 homes and businesses were hit by the first fault. A second fault occurred in Francis Street later in the day leading to power disruptions for approximately 500 customers. At the time, banks were forced to close in the middle of the day while pubs, shops and restaurants were also affected.