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18-inch rodent causes islandwide power outage
A rodent caused an islandwide power outage on Saipan early Saturday morning, according to Commonwealth Utilities Corp. executive director Alan Fletcher.
Those who were either awake, heading off to work, or heading back home early in the morning at approximately 5:28am experienced an islandwide power outage that lasted nearly three hours.
In an email over the weekend, Fletcher told Saipan Tribune that an 18-inch rodent caused a short and arc flash explosion in the main substation transformer at Power Plant 1.
“This short caused a heavy fault and immediate shutdown of the entire island’s power supply. There were no injuries,” Fletcher said.
He said repair crews were immediately on site to troubleshoot the problem, then assess and replace damaged equipment.
According to CUC’s call center, they were informed of the situation but they didn’t experience mass calls from concerned citizens.
“Following the repairs, main feeders were reenergized beginning shortly after 7am,” Fletcher said.
Power service to all Saipan consumers was restored at 8:28am.
“CUC’s operations team apologizes for the inconvenience resulting from this power interruption,” Fletcher said.
Anyone who experiences interruptions or service problems following the outage may contact the CUC Call Center at 664-4282.
